Video of Pope Benedict's Public Farewell As our colleagues, Rachel Donadio and Alan Cowell report, Pope Benedict XVI held his final general audience in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, a day before he withdraws from the public for a cloistered life of prayer and meditation. Before tens of thousands of people gathered in the square, the pope acknowledged the difficulties he faced during his papacy, describing "moments of joy and light but also moments that were not easy." At times, when the "seas were rough," he said that "the Lord seemed to sleep." From the full text of his address: When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th, [2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart were: "Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the nets, sure that you will guide me" - and the Lord really has guided me. He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [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: the Lord has given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the catch has been abundant; [then] 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 - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He, who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing, for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His consolation, His light, His love. On Twitter, the pope's account, @Pontifex, which has more than 1.5 million followers, posted: Shortly after he announced his resignation, he asked on Twitter for people "to pray for me and for the church, trusting as always in divine providence." From St. Peter's Square, people posted photographs from the crowd, including a shot of the pope arriving in the so-called popemobile, on his way to deliver his final farewell. As my colleague, Laurie Goodstein reports, the church faces, among its many challenges as cardinals gather to select a new pope, the wounds caused by sexual abuse cases involving minors all over the world that have been mishandled for years. In St. Peter's Square, the pope also spoke briefly in English to the crowd.