CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AFP) - Pope Francis flew in to a papal residence near Rome on Saturday for an unprecedented encounter with “pope emeritus” Benedict XVI - the first time a pontiff has met his predecessor. The talks round off a historic few weeks for the Roman Catholic Church after Benedict became the first pope to resign in over 700 years and only the second to do so by choice in 2,000 years. The last pope to resign - Celestine V in 1294 - was locked up and perhaps killed off by his successor Boniface VIII and there is no record of the two ever meeting post-resignation.