two popes at the Vatican Double take: Pope Francis, right, greets his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, on his arival back at the Vatican. VATICAN CITY: Two months after his historic resignation, Benedict XVI has returned to the Vatican, where he will live in a former monastery in an unprecedented arrangement that will see a pope and a former pope both housed in the tiny state. It was a relatively low-key return for the 86-year-old pope emeritus, off-limits to all but the Vatican's own media service. The service announced shortly after his arrival on Thursday that expected video coverage would not be provided, sparking doubts over the state of Benedict's health. He had looked extremely frail at his last public appearance in March, and has said that he will live "hidden from the world." The unique decision to accommodate both a pope and his predecessor within the tiny city state provoked surprise in some quarters, with critics worried that Benedict's presence might make it more difficult for Francis to make St Peter's chair his own. Benedict's secretary, Georg Gaenswein, is also the head of Francis's papal household. But during his two-month stay at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence for centuries, Benedict was careful to be seen not to interfere in any way in the papal election or the beginning of Francis's reign, and is expected by many to maintain his low profile. The German-born former pope, who resigned because of old age, moves into the Mater Ecclesiae monastery building within the Vatican grounds - an oasis of calm with its own vegetable garden and blooming flowerbeds - which has been renovated for him. There Benedict plans to carry out a life of quiet contemplation and academic research. Despite there being both a pope and a former pope within the walls of the Vatican, the papal apartments stand empty. Francis has chosen to remain in more modest accommodation in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta, the hotel that hosted him and other cardinals during the papal conclave which elected him.