Benedict has been living in Castel Gandolfo, the summer papal residence outside Rome, since his shock resignation at the end of February. 
 
 But it was always a temporary arrangement and today the German-born former pontiff moved into his new retirement home within the Vatican gardens this afternoon. 
 
 The 86-year-old ex-Pope was picked up by helicopter from the grounds of Castel Gandolfo, which perches on the rim of a volcanic crater lake, and flown to the Vatican, a 15 minute flight away. 
 
 Pope Francis met him at the door of the former monastery which is his new home. The current pontiff has made repeated gestures of friendship towards Benedict, visiting him in Castel Gandolfo, calling him on his birthday and holding mass for him. 
 
 He is taking up residence in a former convent in the Vatican's extensive gardens. Situated on a hill within the city state, it commands views of St Peter's Basilica, the rooftops of Rome and the Apennine mountains. 
 
 It is a 10 minute walk from Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican residence where Pope Francis has chosen to live since his election, having rejected the option of living in the much larger and more lavish papal apartments. 
 
 The two popes will be dressed very similarly – as Pope Emeritus, Benedict wears a white cassock, while Francis wears a white cassock with a short cape around his shoulders. 
 
 Vatican observers have speculated that the presence of a "shadow Pope" could cause difficulties for Francis, but Vatican officials insist that Benedict intends to devote the rest of his life to study and prayer and will not be making public pronouncements which could contradict those of his successor. 
 
 When he announced his decision to step down, Benedict said he would live out his remaining days "hidden from the world". 
 
 Benedict will live on the ground floor of the convent, which has undergone extensive renovations. 
 
 He will be accompanied by a small staff, including his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein. 
 
 Benedict looked pale and bowed the last time he was seen in public, on March 23, when he welcomed Francis to Castel Gandolfo – the first time that an ex-Pope had met a living Pope since the 13th century. 
 
 Benedict's frail appearance contrasted with that of the much more robust-looking Pope Francis. 
 
 The Vatican insists that Benedict does not have a serious illness or medical condition, but is simply slowing down as a result of his advanced age. ||||| Pope Francis to receive Benedict on Vatican return Two pontiffs living behind same walls for first time in history 
 
 (ANSA) - Vatican City, May 2 - Pope Francis will personally receive retired pope Benedict XVI on Thursday upon his return to the Vatican where he will reside in a converted monastery. Benedict is scheduled to arrive via the white papal helicopter at 16:50 local time, ending his two-month stay at the pontifical summer home at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome since abdicating at the end of February. At the time, Benedict shocked the world by becoming the first living pope in nearly 600 years to give up the throne of St Peter. Francis, who was elected on March 13 in a short conclave, will greet Benedict Thursday in front of his predecessor's new home, the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, just a short walk from his own residence. It is the first time in history that two popes - one serving, the other not - have lived simultaneously behind the Vatican walls.Since Francis was elected, the two met for the first time on March 23, praying together on the same papal kneeler inside a chapel at Castel Ganodolfo. ||||| Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI comes home on Thursday to a new house and a new pope, as an unprecedented era begins of a retired pontiff living side-by-side with a reigning one inside the Vatican gardens. 
 
 FILE - This Feb. 12, 2013 file photo shows a view of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery inside the Vatican State, where Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will live in retirement. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE- In this March 23, 2013 file photo provided by the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis, right, and Pope emeritus Benedict XVI meet in Castel Gandolfo. Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - Pope Benedict XVI leaves after greeting the faithful from the balcony window of the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, the scenic town where he will spend his first post-Vatican days and... (Associated Press) 
 
 All eyes will be on Benedict's physical state as he is welcomed by Pope Francis at his new retirement home, a converted monastery tucked behind St. Peter's Basilica. The last time he was seen by the public _ March 23 _ Benedict appeared remarkably more frail and thin than when he left the Vatican on his final day as pope three weeks earlier. 
 
 The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, has acknowledged Benedict's post-retirement decline but insists the 86-year-old German isn't suffering from any ailment and is just old. 
 
 "He is a man who is not young: He is old and his strength is slowly ebbing," Lombardi said this week. "However, there is no special illness. He is an old man who is healthy." 
 
 Since his Feb. 28 resignation, Benedict has been "hidden to the world" as he himself predicted, living at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills south of Rome. He chose to leave the Vatican immediately after his resignation to physically remove himself from the process of electing his successor and from Pope Francis' first weeks as pontiff. 
 
 His absence also gave workers time to finish up renovations on the monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens that until last year housed groups of cloistered nuns who were invited for a few years at a time to live inside the Vatican to pray for the pontiff and church at large. 
 
 In the small building, with a chapel attached, Benedict will live with his personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, and the four consecrated women who look after him, preparing his meals and tending to the household. Inside the small building, Benedict has at his disposal a small library and a study. A guest room is available for when his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, comes to visit. 
 
 "It is certainly small but well-equipped," Lombardi said. 
 
 When Benedict announced his intention to resign _ the first pontiff to do so in 600 years _ questions immediately swirled about the implications of having two popes living alongside one another inside the Vatican. 
 
 Benedict fueled those concerns when he chose to be called "emeritus pope" and "Your Holiness" rather than "emeritus bishop of Rome." He also raised eyebrows when he chose to continue wearing the white cassock of the papacy. 
 
 Given the political intrigues that plague the Vatican, it wasn't much of a stretch of the imagination to wonder if some cardinals, bishops and monsignors _ not to mention ordinary Catholics _ might continue making Benedict their point of reference rather than the new pope. 
 
 However, Benedict made clear on his final day as pope that he was renouncing the job and pledged his "unconditional reverence and obedience" to his then-unknown successor. It was a pledge he repeated in person on March 23 when Francis went to have lunch with him at Castel Gandolfo. 
 
 It was during that visit that the world saw how frail Benedict had become in the three weeks since his emotional departure from the Apostolic Palace: Always a man with a purposeful walk, he shuffled tentatively that day, using his cane. 
 
 Francis, for his part, seems utterly unfazed by the novel situation unfolding. He has frequently invoked Benedict's name and work and has called him on a half-dozen occasions, making clear he has no intention of ignoring the fact that there's another pope still very much alive and now living on the other side of the garden from the Vatican hotel where he lives. 
 
 Francis' gestures to Benedict during that March 23 visit were also remarkable: He refused to pray on the special papal kneeler in the small chapel of Castel Gandolfo, preferring to join Benedict on a kneeler in the pews, and referring to his predecessor as his "brother." 
 
 Now that they're neighbors, they might bump into one another on walks in the Vatican gardens or at the shrine to the Madonna on the top of the hill, just a stone's throw from Benedict's new home. 
 
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 Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
– Former Pope Benedict XVI is lugging his suitcases back to the Vatican today—marking the first time two popes have ever simultaneously lived behind Vatican walls. Benedict has been staying at the pontifical summer residence since abdicating in February, but will fly via official papal helicopter to his new home, which had been undergoing renovations and where he will be greeted by Pope Francis, ANSA reports. That new residence is a former monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens. It has its own chapel, a small library, a study, and a guest room. He will live there with his much-discussed personal secretary and four consecrated women who will take care of the cooking and cleaning, the AP reports. "It is certainly small but well-equipped," says the Vatican spokesperson. It also has nice views of St. Peter's Basilica, according to the Telegraph. The two popes will continue to dress similarly (in white cassocks) and may run into each other in the garden, but Benedict will stay out of Francis' limelight; Francis, for his part, seems "utterly unfazed" by the unusual situation, notes the AP, which reports he has thus far called his predecessor a half-dozen times.