Vatican feuds, fiefdoms, betrayals await next pope

Two days after announcing he would resign, a weary Benedict told his flock gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for Ash Wednesday Mass to live their lives as Christians in order to show the true face of the church a church, he said, which is often "defiled."

"I think in particular about the attacks against the unity of the church, the divisions in the ecclesial body," he said. He told those gathered that "moving beyond individualisms and rivalries is a humble and precious sign for those who are far from the faith or indifferent to it."

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said it was wrong to interpret the pope's words as being directed at the Vatican Curia, saying the pope's message was intended as a call for unity among all Christians, a priority of his as pontiff.

"Differences and diversity of opinion are part of the normal dynamic of any institution or community," Lombardi said. He said the way the Vatican's governance problems are often described "do not correspond to reality."

Rachel Zoll in New York and George Jahn in Vienna contributed.