Faithful's final show of devotion for Benedict

Pope Benedict XVI gave an emotional farewell speech to tens of thousands of faithful in St Peter's Square on Wednesday.

A day before he becomes the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years, Benedict acknowledged that his eight-year papacy had been rocked by "rough seas" - a reference to paedophile priest sex scandals, controversy around the Vatican bank and the theft of confidential papers by his butler. He said that by resigning he was not "coming down from the cross", an apparent rebuke to some members of the Church who contrasted his decision to resign with the dogged determination of John Paul II, his predecessor, to remain in office despite his deteriorating health.

In bright winter sunshine, the Pope, 85, was driven around St Peter's Square in a white Mercedes for the last time, waving to a cheering crowd of 150,000.

The Popemobile, with the registration number SCV1 for Stato della Citta del Vaticano, drove him up to a stage at the main entrance to St Peter's Basilica.

Wearing his traditional white vestments, he said: "There were moments of joy and light but also moments that were not easy … there were moments when the seas were rough and it seemed that the Lord was sleeping."

Benedict said he announced his resignation on Feb 11 "with a profound serenity of spirit". As the crowd broke into chants of "Benedetto, Benedetto", he asked them to pray "for me and for the new Pope".

Swiss Guards stood either side of the platform, as about 70 cardinals in their distinctive red skull caps listened.

They will be among 115 cardinals to gather in a conclave in the Sistine Chapel next month to elect his successor.

The cardinals who attended the audience included several who could be elected the next Pope - Italy's Angelo Bagnasco, Christoph Schoenborn, of Austria, Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, and Jose Tagle, from the Philippines. The crowd was a mixture of the faithful, monks and nuns.

Edi Smith, 30, a bar manager from Harrogate, North Yorks, said she hoped a younger pope would be elected.

"Hopefully his resignation will move the Church forward with the election of someone more free thinking, who will take steps towards female priests or the acceptance that gays do exist," she said. Benedict's papacy will formally come to an end at 8pm local time. The Vatican hopes to have a new Pope in place before Palm Sunday on March 24.

The Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, who apologised after suggesting homosexuality could kill, has stepped into the post held by Cardinal Keith O'Brien until his resignation.