By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News
Tens of thousands of people were gathering in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City Wednesday to witness Pope Benedict XVI?s final general audience before his historic abdication.
Blue skies welcomed Catholic pilgrims and onlookers from around the world in the square, which he due to address from St Peter?s Basilica from 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET).
Benedict will use his "popemobile" to greet some of the crowd, but the size of the event means there is not expected to be any kissing of the pontiff?s hand as is traditional after papal audiences, the BBC reported.
The Vatican said more than 50,000 had applied for official tickets for Wednesday?s event ? eight times the usual number of applications - and that 200,000 were expected to pack the fringes of the square and surrounding streets.
Papal audiences are normally held inside a Vatican hall in the winter.
Pope Benedict will formally abdicate on Thursday, becoming the first pontiff to do so for almost 600 years, and will travel by helicopter to his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, about 15 miles south-east of Rome.
Tens of thousands were in the square from early Wednesday in the hope of securing a good place from which to see the moment. Among the crowd already in the square were Germans from Pope Benedict?s home region of Bavaria.
Balthasar Bauer, 23, from Bavaria, who was in traditional dress, lederhosen, said: "You can't change it - this will likely be the last Bavarian pope, so I had to come here to see him for one last time."
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Carlo Angerer and Andy Eckardt, NBC News, contributed to this report.
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