Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict has left the Vatican after pledging unconditional obedience to whoever succeeds him to guide the Roman Catholic Church at one of the most crisis-ridden periods in its 2000-year history.

The papacy is one of religion's enduring institutions, with history teaching that St Peter - or Simon Peter, one of Christ's disciples - was the first pope within the Catholic Church. Every pope is seen as St Peter's successor; the rightful superior to all other bishops.

Pope Benedict XVI looked ''frail'' the last time Dunedin Roman Catholic Bishop Colin Campbell saw him just over a year ago.

Pope Benedict said in a historic announcement he no longer had the mental and physical strength to run the Roman Catholic Church and would become the first pontiff in more than 700 years to resign, leaving his inner circle "incredulous".

Pope Benedict has launched a campaign to bring lapsed believers back to the Roman Catholic fold, opening a major convention of bishops on what the Vatican has termed the "new evangelisation" of the developed world.

Pope Benedict called for peace in the Middle East at a concert by conductor Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, made up of young musicians from Israel, the Palestinian territories and Arab countries.

Pope Benedict and Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, both octogenarians, joked about their age in a brief meeting and then Castro popped the question: so what do you do?

Some 1.5 million pilgrims flooded Rome on Sunday to watch Pope John Paul II move a step closer to sainthood in one of the largest Vatican Masses in history, an outpouring of adoration for a beloved and historic figure after years marred by church scandal.

Pope Benedict XVI has made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ, tackling one of the most controversial issues in Christianity in a new book.

The step forward by the Pope on condom use might be small but it is nevertheless significant.