PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin will offer a Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving in celebration of the eight-year pontificate of Benedict XVI at noon Thursday at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.
The celebration, to which all Rhode Islanders are welcome, will begin just two hours before Benedict formally ceases being pope, in accord with his plan to become the first pope in 600 years to resign from the pontificate.
Catholic school children will join other faithful in attending the special Mass.
The bishop calls the resignation "an act of great humility for he understands that the needs of the Church are greater than his own; that the ultimately the well-being of the Church is in God's hands, not the Pope's."
By Richard C. Dujardin