Pope bids farewell to huge crowds

Pope Benedict XVI today admitted "stormy waters" during his pontificate as he held his last audience in St Peter's Square before tens of thousands of pilgrims on the eve of his historic resignation.

Benedict toured the Vatican plaza in his famous "popemobile", stopping to kiss children and waving to the crowd of more than 100,000 gathered under a bright, cloudless sky.

Some in the throng held up huge banners with messages such as "Benedict, we'll miss you!" and "The pope is the heart of this city!" or waved the Vatican's yellow and white flag at the pontiff's last public event.

The pope drew an analogy between his reign and a miracle recounted in the Bible when Jesus Christ calmed the waters as he was sailing with his disciples including St Peter -- a fisherman by trade who is believed by Christians to be the first pope.

"The Lord gave us days of sun and of light breeze, days in which the fishing was good. There were also moments when there were stormy waters and headwinds," the pope said.

"But I always knew that God was in that boat and I always knew that the boat of the Church is not mine, is not ours, but is his and he will not let it sink," the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics told the cheering crowd.

Benedict also said his decision to resign -- which makes him the first pope to do so since the Middle Ages -- had not been an easy one but had been taken for the good of the Church.

"I took this step in full awareness of its gravity and novelty but with profound serenity of spirit," he said, adding: "I will continue to accompany the Church with prayer and reflection."