Pope's last blessing from window drawing crowd
By Associated Press
Feb 24, 2013 5:08 AM CST
FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2013 file photo, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges a cheering crowd of faithful and pilgrims during his second-last Angelus prayer from the window of his apartments at the Vatican. As the first pontiff in six centuries to step down, Benedict has carved a new path for his successors...   (Associated Press)

Pope Benedict XVI has given his pontificate's final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.

Benedict says even though he's retiring on Thursday from the papacy, the first pope in 600 years to do so, he's `'not abandoning the church." Instead he says he'll serve the church with the same dedication he has till now, but will do so in a way `'more suitable to my age and my strength." Benedict, 85, will spend his last years in prayer, meditation and seclusion in a monastery on Vatican City's grounds.

He has one more public appearance, at his weekly audience on Wednesday in the square.