The emeritus pope, Benedict XVI, was greeted by his successor on his return to the Vatican on Thursday to begin an unprecedented period of co-habitation in which two white-robed pontiffs will share the grounds of the tiny, walled city state.
Francis welcomed his predecessor to the former convent in the Vatican gardens that will be his home for the rest of his life and then accompanied 86-year-old Benedict in a brief prayer. The sparsely decorated Mater Ecclesiae is just a few hundred metres from the Vatican guesthouse where Francis has opted to live.
It was the second meeting between the popes since Francis was elected on 13 March. Ten days later, the new pontiff travelled to Castel Gandolfo in the hills south of Rome to talk and pray with Benedict, the first pope to resign voluntarily since 1294. The two have since spoken several times by telephone.
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