Italian magazine snaps first pics of retired Pope Benedict

ROME (AFP) - Italian gossip magazine Chi on Wednesday published paparazzi pictures of retired "pope emeritus" Benedict XVI as he strolled in the grounds of the papal summer palace of Castel Gandolfo near Rome.

In the first glimpse of the 85-year old since he retired last week, Benedict is seen wearing what appears to be a white baseball cap and a white jacket over his cassock, walking with the aid of a black cane, accompanied by his faithful secretary Georg Gaenswein.

Snapped from behind trees and bushes within the grounds of the vast villa, a second photograph shows Benedict being joined on his walk by a group of women identified by the magazine as the housekeepers who ran his household while he was pope, and have accompanied him into retirement.

Benedict is wearing dark shoes, having had to give up his famous red papal ones.