Pope Benedict holds last public Mass

13 February 2013 Last updated at 18:30 GMT The BBC's Katya Adler reports on Pope Benedict's last mass

Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated his last Mass as Pope in St Peter's Basilica in Rome following the surprise announcement that he is to retire.

He presided over an Ash Wednesday ceremony marking the start of the Roman Catholic Church's season of Lent.

It came two days after the surprise announcement that the 85-year-old was to retire at the end of the month.

In his homily, he implicitly criticised recent infighting among clerics inside the Vatican.

He said the face of the Church had been marred by divisions and rivalry among the clergy, reports the BBC's David Willey, who was at the service.

Looking tired, the pontiff anointed the foreheads of the faithful with ashes in a service attended by cardinals, bishops, monks, friars and pilgrims.

Continue reading the main story 17-23 February - Lenten retreat, most normal Vatican functions suspended24 February - Pope recites Angelus for the last time27 February - Last weekly audience, in St Peter's SquareEvening of 28 February - Pope leaves officeFrom 15 March - Conclave to elect new PopeThe season of Lent is marked by fasting and acts of penitence for past sins, with worshippers marking a cross on their foreheads with wood ash to symbolise human mortality.

It is the most solemn season in the Church calendar that ends with Holy Week and Easter Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the Pope held his last but one general audience inside the Vatican, his first public appearance since he stunned the Church and wider world by saying he would retire at the end of the month.

He said he had made his decision only after long reflection.

"I am conscious of the gravity of my action," he said, receiving a standing ovation from 8,000 pilgrims from around the world gathered in the Vatican's main audience hall.

"Thank you for the love and prayer with which you have accompanied me... Keep praying for me, for the Church and for the future pope," he said.

Next week the Pope will carry out no public engagements. He will enter a spiritual retreat and pray inside the Vatican.

The pontiff had originally been scheduled to celebrate Ash Wednesday at the small Sant' Anselmo church, then lead a procession to Santa Sabina Basilica on Rome's Aventine Hill.

But the Mass was relocated to St Peter's to accommodate the crowds, the Vatican said. The change also saved the Pope the effort of the procession.

Battle for succession

The pontiff will continue with his usual agenda until the day he officially retires at the end of February, Vatican officials say.

By the end of Lent, in six weeks' time, there is expected to be a new pope.

Continue reading the main story At 78, one of the oldest new popes in history when elected in 2005Born in Germany in 1927, joined Hitler Youth during WWII and was conscripted as an anti-aircraft gunner - but desertedAs Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, spent 24 years in charge of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - overseeing Catholic doctrineA theological conservative with uncompromising views on homosexuality and women priestsReached out to other faiths, visiting sites holy to Muslims and JewsOur correspondent says Pope Benedict is anxious to ensure a smooth transition of power to his successor, and does not want to go down in history as a pope who abandoned his ministry without sufficient cause.

The pontiff's daily diary until his departure from the Vatican at the end of the month is already full.

The Vatican holds a Lenten retreat from 17 to 23 February. The Pope will hold one more Wednesday audience on 27 February, again in St Peter's Square.

On 28 February he will fly off to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, where he will stay while Church leaders go through the complicated ritual of choosing a successor.

The secret process of selecting a new pope is known as a Conclave, governed by rules which have evolved over centuries.

Our correspondent says the behind-the-scenes battle for the succession has already begun.

At 78, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of the oldest popes in history at his election.

He took the helm as one of the fiercest storms the Catholic Church has faced in decades - the scandal of child sex abuse by priests - was breaking.

The pontiff said in his resignation statement on Monday: "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry."

View the original article here

Is public nudity a form of free speech?

22 November 2012 Last updated at 01:18 GMT By Jon Kelly BBC News Magazine, Washington Civil liberties campaigners are preparing to legally fight San Francisco's ban on public nudity. Does the US Constitution guarantee the right to walk the streets naked?

No sooner had San Francisco's lawmakers voted to ban nakedness in public places than a lawsuit was filed. It argued that the free speech of nudists was being restricted.

It's a dispute that typifies the famously liberal city, but it also reveals much about the importance of freedom of expression to Americans.

Opponents of the move say that, by limiting the ability to express themselves, the law violates their rights. They cite the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which forbids the government from "abridging the freedom of speech".

But legal experts say previous court rulings suggest that being nude does not, in itself, constitute an act of expression.

"It's taken as a given by the Supreme Court that a general restriction on public nudity is constitutional," says Frederick Schauer, professor of law at the University of Virginia.

Continue reading the main story The US Supreme Court does not regard public nakedness as a right under the First AmendmentNudity in the form of artistic expression is protectedBut authorities can ban nude performances for "secondary" reasonsSan Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 in favour of banning anyone over five from exposing "his or her genitals, perineum or anal region" in most public locations.

It came after a growing number of naked men gathered regularly in a plaza in in the city's Castro district, an area well known for its large gay community.

Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center, which promotes the study of free-speech issues, says he does not believe the legal bid on behalf of the Castro nudes is likely to succeed.

A nude backpacker walks the street of San Francisco last year. Such an act is now illegal.

"There's no First Amendment right to be naked in a public place because you are not saying anything," he adds.

But while the Supreme Court has been consistent that nudity is not in itself a form of expression, that does not mean that nudity cannot be expressive.

"Being naked in the Castro could be seen as expressing a point of view about LGBT rights," says Amy Adler, professor of law at New York University.

"I'm not sure a court would buy it but that's the argument I would expect them to make."

It's possible that the nudists could argue their nakedness was a political act.

Continue reading the main story

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”

End Quote From the First Amendment to the United States Consitution The Supreme Court has, in fact, held that nude dancing, as practiced in strip clubs, is a form of free speech, Schauer says.

However, it ruled that establishments which offer displays of erotic dancing can be regulated.

As long as the regulations are intended to deal with the side effects of such establishments - if they are causing a rise in crime, for instance - it is legal to impose a public nudity ban. It was a principle established in law in the 2000 case Erie v Pap's AM, which set a Pennsylvania city council against a nude dancing establishment.

Of course, strip bars operate indoors, on private property, while San Francisco's nudists express themselves in full view of the public.

San Francisco supervisor Scott Wiener, one of the lawmakers who passed the nudity ban, said it was "appropriate to have some minimal standards of behaviour" in the city and "our public spaces are for everyone".

According to law professor Adler, case law suggests the city was acting within its rights.

"Even if the nudists could prove they were engaging in nudity for expressive purposes, the state has the right to regulate it," she says, as long as the regulation is not about what's being expressed, but the side effects that expression has on the rest of the city - for instance, heavy traffic or lowered property values.

But all may not be lost for the naked men of the Castro.

One option open to them would be to move somewhere such as Oregon, where public nudity is legal so long as there is no "intent to arouse".

"There's nothing in the constitution that requires a state to regulate against nudity," says Schauer.

View the original article here