by Isi Esene

Pope Benedict XVI has left the Vatican after resigning from the position of Pope.

The 85-year-old pontiff was flown by helicopter to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.

The Pope landed at Castel Gandolfo, south-east of the Italian capital, about 15 minutes later.

Reports say, earlier, Benedict met his cardinals, vowing “unconditional obedience and reverence” to his eventual successor.

The Catholic Pontiff, who recently joined the social media platform, Twitter, did not leave without posting a final message thanking his follower for their love and support.

https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/307158221817274368

Pope Benedict who used the handle @pontifex, had 1,601,098 followers with just thirty-nine tweets.