Pope meets with Benedict in historic lunch

Pope Francis flew in to a papal residence near Rome yesterday for an unprecedented encounter with "pope emeritus" Benedict - the first time a pontiff has met his predecessor.

The talks in the town of Castel Gandolfo round off a historic few weeks for the Roman Catholic Church after Benedict became the first pope to resign in 600 years and only the second to do so by choice in 2,000 years.

The last pope to resign - Celestine V in 1294 - was locked up and perhaps killed off by his successor, Boniface VIII, and there is no record of the two ever meeting post-resignation.

The two men dressed in white embraced warmly on the helipad in the gardens of Castel Gandolfo, where Benedict has been living since he stepped down February 28 and became the first pope to resign in 600 years.

In a series of gestures that ensued, Benedict made clear that he considered Francis to be pope while Francis made clear he considered his predecessor to be very much a revered brother and equal. They clasped hands repeatedly, showing one another the deference owed a pope in ways that surely turned Vatican protocol upside down.

Travelling from the helipad to the palazzo, Francis sat on the right-hand side of the car, the traditional place of the pope, while Benedict sat on the left. When they entered the chapel inside the palazzo to pray, Benedict tried to direct Francis to the papal kneeler at the front of the chapel, but Francis refused.