There is neither sadness, neither regret, nor nostalgia even on St. Peter’s Square. On the day of Pope Benedict XVI’s final general audience, among the tens of thousands of faithful there were smiling faces and a few tears, not from sorrow but from emotion. When he first emerged in his Popemobile, Benedict was greeted with an explosion of applause before he stopped to hold and kiss a baby.

If the faithful feared Benedict would disappear forever, words of comfort from the outgoing pontiff said otherwise. “I do not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord,” he told those gathered at St. Peter’s Square. “I no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St. Peter’s bounds.”

His words, reassuring and not formal, were aimed directly at the heart of so many different people from all over the world, of all ages, united by a historical event.

He did speak of the testing times, comparing it to a noted Biblical passage. “[These years] have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: [...] there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been.”

In the end though, he showed gratitude to the faithful: “I thank each and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you have welcomed this important decision.”

And the reasons, real or imagined, of this decision now take a back seat in the face of a man who will continue to wear white as a Pope, but a few hours will be called ‘Papa Emeritus’.

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The Pope is resigning: an unprecedented event in modern times. Indeed, because the event is so unusual, the Catholic Church is charting new territory as Benedict XVI leaves office. Metro explains.

What happens on February 28?

This is the last day of Benedict XVI’s pontificate. In the morning, he meets with cardinals at the Vatican. Cardinals, which are based in countries around the world, have travelled to Rome for this event. They convene again in March to elect a new Pope.

At 4:55 pm, Benedict XVI bids farewell to his staff and the Swiss Guards at the Vatican Apostolic Palace and travels by helicopter to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s vacation residence. Once there, he will greet the crowds from the balcony.

At 8pm, Benedict XVI officially relinquishes the papacy. The Swiss Guards, who serve the Pope, depart and are replaced by soldiers of the Vatican Gendarmerie, who will be responsible for Benedict XVI’s security until he dies.

What will the Pope do next? Is he even a Pope anymore?

As this is unchartered territory for the Church, officials have had to come up with new solutions. Benedict will be known as “Pope Emeritus” and will still be called “His Holiness Benedict XVI”. He’ll continue the white cassock reserved for Popes, but not the cape. Benedict, a renowned scholar, will live in a monastery, where he will spend his time studying and writing.

A new Pope hasn’t been elected yet. Who will be in charge?

The Vatican bureaucracy will continue as usual, headed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Until a new Pontiff is elected, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, will lead the clergy in a caretaker capacity.

When will a new Pope be elected?

Nobody knows. Around March 1, Cardinal Sodano, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, will call all cardinals to a conclave. In one of his final acts as Pope, Benedict XVI amended Canon Law, which regulates the Catholic Church, so as to allow a speedy election of a new Pontiff. Ordinarily the conclave begins 15-20 days after the death of the incumbent, which would mean the cardinals would convene no earlier than March 15, but the conclave may now be brought forward. All cardinals not younger than 80 are eligible to vote; that means that 115 cardinals will be voting this time.

How long will it take them to elect a new Pontiff?

It depends. It took the cardinals three ballots, over one and a half days, to elect Pope Benedict XVI, and all recent papal elections have been relatively speedy. There will definitely be a new Pope in place before Holy Week, which begins on March 25.

How will we know the Cardinals have made their choice?

Ah, the famous white smoke. After each round of voting in the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals burn their ballots in a fireplace whose chimney is visible to the crowds on St. Peter’s Square. Added dye makes the smoke black. When a winner emerges, the ballots are burned without the dye. The white smoke tells the world that a new Pontiff has been elected. An official then steps out on the balcony, announcing the famous words Habemus Papam, and the new Pontiff emerges.

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