ROME - Newly elected Pope Benedict XVI made his first trip outside the Vatican on Wednesday, to his former apartment in Rome where he was greeted by well-wishers including two French children whom he kissed.
Riding in a dark Mercedes, escorted by a security detail of two cars, he left the Vatican by the Santa Anna Gate at around 5:15 pm (1515 GMT).
He headed for the house in Piazza Citta Leonina, some 200 metres (yards) outside the tiny city state, which had been his home for decades.
As he came out of the building about two hours later he was greeted by a crowd of around 2,000 well-wishers. He stopped and kissed Blondine and Hubert, two children about 10 years old from Orange, in southern France.
"I am very moved," he said to journalists as he was leaving.
The pope returned to the Vatican by car.
Earlier Wednesday, he had broken the seals on the papal apartments in the Vatican, which had been been placed on the doors on April 12, four days after the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
The act was a formality, as the apartments are to be refurbished before the pope moves in.
In the meantime, Benedict XVI will continue to stay at the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican, where he and the other 114 cardinal electors were housed during the conclave that led to his election Tuesday.
04/20/2005 17:55 GMT