Benedict will remain at the Vatican but officials dismiss speculation of a divided Church.
After Benedict XVI formally resigns as Pope on the evening of Feb 28, he will go to Castel Gandolfo, a summer papal retreat in the hills outside Rome.
The 85-year-old is expected to remain there for 15 to 20 days, until the conclave of cardinals gathers at the Vatican and elects a new Pontiff.
The Pope - it is unclear whether by then he will have reverted to being Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as he was before his election in 2005 - will then take up residence in a cloistered monastery within the Vatican city state. The building is tucked away behind the Vatican's landscaped gardens, at the furthest boundary of the tiny territory, the smallest country in the world.
That means he will inevitably run into his successor, whoever might that be - an arrangement that has not been witnessed for centuries.
"He certainly won't be a recluse," said Fr Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. "He will be free to come and go."
The fact that the Pope resigned, rather than dying in office like generations of predecessors, raises a nightmarish prospect for the Vatican - the existence of two Popes and a divided Roman Catholic Church.
The Church is haunted by memories of divisions throughout its history. The last Pope to resign, Gregory XII, stepped down in an attempt to end just such a schism.
Benedict, a noted theologian, would continue to write, the Vatican said. That could produce a situation where the former Pope says one thing on a doctrinal matter, while his successor says something different.
"Traditionally Popes have not resigned because there is this question of what do we do with two Popes," said John Thavis, a veteran Vatican observer who wrote The Vatican Diaries, an insider's account of the Holy See.
"What should be the role of a former Pope - does he have to stay quiet for the rest of his life? What if he speaks up and disagrees with his successor? You then have the prospect of the Church effectively having two Popes."
Benedict has never been regarded as power hungry and will probably embrace a return to a quiet life of study and prayer. "I don't think he will deliberately upstage or contradict his successor," said Mr Thavis.
Fr Lombardi dismissed suggestions that the Pope would interfere. "We have no fears of this kind," he said. "He will renounce the post. There will be no confusion, or division."
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