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Ex-Pope Benedict returns to Vatican

Former Pope Benedict has returned to the Vatican, two months after becoming the first pontiff to resign in 600 years.

He was flown by helicopter from the Castel Gandolfo papal summer residence to live permanently in Vatican City the BBC reports.

Greeted by Pope Francis as he arrived, he was driven the short distance to his new accommodation.

Benedict, 86, was last seen in public on 23 March and there has been speculation about his health.

Benedict will live in the converted Mater Ecclesiae convent just behind St Peter’s Basilica, with his personal secretary, Georg Gaenswein.

The building, described as “small but well equipped”, includes an attached chapel, a library and a study.

There is also a guest room available for when his older brother, Georg Ratzinger, visits.

The Vatican said Pope Francis welcomed Benedict “with great and fraternal cordiality”.

The two then held a “brief moment of prayer” in Benedict’s chapel.

Benedict will now dedicate himself to a life of private prayer in the service of the Church, according to the Vatican.

His arrival heralds an unprecedented era of a former pope living close to his successor at the Vatican.

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