Pope Benedict XVI planned Thursday to bid farewell to his cardinals - one of his final acts before resigning as leader of the world's almost 1.2 billion Catholics.
Benedict's papacy is to officially end at 8 pm (1900 GMT). He will move temporarily to Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence in the outskirts of Rome, before settling in a convent inside the Vatican that is currently being restored.
His audience with the cardinals was scheduled to start at 11 am and last more than one hour. The pope is then to leave the Vatican by helicopter at 5 pm for the short flight to Castel Gandolfo, where he will be greeted by the local faithful, led by their parish priest.
Benedict was elected on April 19, 2005. His is the first papal resignation in almost 600 years. He insists it is due to his diminishing strength from old age and has nothing to do with Vatican intrigues or scandals.
During his papacy, Benedict had to deal with the alleged cover-up of child sex abuse by priests and the VatiLeaks affair - the publication of confidential papal papers which shed light on suspected cronyism, corruption and scheming at the Vatican.
Tens of thousands of people flocked to Rome's St Peter's Square on Wednesday for his last audience with the public. He told the faithful that his time as leader of the Catholic Church "had moments of joy and light, but also moments that were not easy."
Upon resigning, German-born Joseph Ratzinger will take the title of "pope emeritus" or "Roman pontiff emeritus." He will continue dressing in white, but his traditional red shoes will be replaced by brown ones.
Other symbols of his papacy, such as his ring, will be destroyed, as is normally done when a pope dies, the Vatican has said.
On Monday, cardinals will hold preliminary meetings with a view of setting a date for the conclave, the closed-door assembly held in the Sistine Chapel tasked with electing a successor.
The Catholic Church hopes to have a new leader installed by Easter, which this year falls on March 31.