ST. LOUIS (KSDK) - Thursday is the day Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the head of the Catholic Church.
In St. Louis, people who have met the Holy Father are reflecting on their time with him.
Bishop Edward Rice of the Archdiocese of St. Louis met the Pope twice last year.
In March, he went to the Vatican with all the bishops from the region (including Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa), and in September he went for a 10 day seminar for new bishops.
During his March visit, he says he got to have a fairly lengthy conversation with Pope Benedict XVI about what's going on in the archdiocese of St. Louis.
Rice says the Pope made him and anyone else he talked to feel like they were the only person in the world.
"It just wasn't real. It took me weeks to really ponder the fact that I had met the holy father personally. I'm just a simple kid from south st. louis. I remember looking out the veranda of where the holy father lives and thinking how in the world did I get here? By the grace of God," said Rice.
Bishop Rice predicts the Catholic Church will be just fine, and he expects the next leader to continue the commitment to the future of the Catholic church that the last two popes had.
"Certainly we have the new evangelization. The church needs to really look at how we're trying to transmit the gospel in today's culture. The culture has changed. I'm 52 years old and it's changed just since I was a young kid."
We also spoke with Cardinal Timothy Dolan's mother, Shirley. She met Pope Benedict last summer when her son was elevated to Cardinal. She tells us he is a great guy, and that he was very gentlemanly, nice, and flattering.
