Pope Benedict XVI tried to reassure the world's Catholics over his surprise decision to resign as he spoke for the first time since the decision to 8000 followers in the Vatican.
The leader of the Church appeared visibly moved as he told the gathering in his first public appearance that he was confident the announcement would not cause harm.
It came as the Vatican announced a conclave to elect his successor would start between March 15 and 20, in keeping with Church rules about the timing of such gatherings after the papal see becomes vacant.
In unscripted remarks, the Pope said: "Continue to pray for me, for the Church and for the future Pope."
Officials are still so stunned by the move that Vatican experts have yet to decide what his title will be and whether he will continue to wear the white of a Pope, the red of a cardinal or the black of an ordinary priest.
The 85-year-old, who will step down on February 28, sounded strong at the audience but his eyes appeared to be watering as he reacted to the thunderous applause in the Vatican's vast, modern audience hall, packed with more than 8000 people.
In brief remarks in Italian that mirrored those he read in Latin to stunned cardinals on Monday he appeared to try to calm Catholics' fears of the unknown.
His message was that God would continue to guide the Church.
He said: "I took this decision in full freedom for the good of the Church after praying for a long time and examining my conscience before God."
He said he was "well aware of the gravity of such an act," but also aware he no longer had the strength required to run the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church, which has been beset by a string of scandals.
Benedict said he was sustained by the "certainty that the Church belongs to Christ, who will never stop guiding it and caring for it" and suggested the faithful should also feel comforted by this.
He said he had "felt almost physically" the affection and kindness he had received since he announced the decision.
When Benedict resigned on Monday, the Vatican spokesman said the pontiff did not fear schism in the Church after his decision to step down.
Some 115 cardinals under the age of 80 will be eligible to enter a secret conclave to elect his successor.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article