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Photos: Pope holds final general audience

Credit: Getty Images

ROME, ITALY - FEBRUARY 28: A helicopter carrying Pope Benedict XVI passes St Peter's Basilica as he leaves Vatican City on February 28, 2013 in Rome, Italy. The Pontiff is flying to Castel Gandolfo where he will cease to be Pope at 8:00pm local time. Pope Benedict XVI has been the leader of the Catholic Church for eight years and is the first Pope to retire since 1415. He will stay at the Papal Summer residence of Castel Gandolfo until renovations are complete at a monastery in the grounds of the Vatican and will be known as Roman pontiff emeritus or pope emeritus. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)