The Pope’s birthday was yesterday, of course – His brother George sent him birthday greetings, excerpted by Zenit:

"Dear Joseph, may your onerous theological work of so many years be of guidance and help to carry out the grandiose task that God has entrusted to you," said Monsignor Ratzinger.

"May the Lord give you spiritual and intellectual inspiration, as well as physical strength, to be able to make just decisions and find appropriate words, and maintain the courage and firmness in the face of the waves, which according to the secret divine will, surround the Church and, with her, you also," he added.

"May God give us, in these last years of life toward which we are heading, a minimum of fraternal communion with the joy and warmth of before," he said.

Here’s the original Italian news story on it – I don’t know if there’s more to the message or not. Seems to be.

As I was watching parts of the Easter Vigil from St. Peter’s, I thought, "Let the man have a vacation!!!" – and, sure enough, word comes that he’s at Castel Gandolfo for a few days, where today, he led, not the Angeleus, but the Regina Coeli (which replaces the Angelus during Easter Season) from the balcony there

Explaining the Regina Caeli invocations , Benedict added that “Mary kept in her the heart the ‘Good News’ of the resurrection, source and secret of the true joy and real peace that the Dead and Risen Christ conquered for us with the sacrifice on the Cross. Let us call on Mary, who accompanied us in the days of the Passion, to continue guiding our steps in this time of spiritual joy so that we may always grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord and become witnesses and apostles of His peace.”

In the festive atmosphere of Easter, the Pope also mentioned the “joy of an important anniversary. Five hundred years ago—April 18, 1506, to be exact—Pope Julius II laid the first stone of the new Basilica of St Peter, [a structure] that the entire world admires for the powerful harmony of its forms”.

“With admiration,” Benedict XVI mentioned, “the artists who contributed with their genius to building and decorating” the basilica, people like Michelangelo, Raffaello, and Bramante. He said he was grateful to popes like Julius II who devoted themselves to erecting the basilica on top of the tomb of St Peter. He also thanked the staff of the [Reverenda] Fabbrica di San Pietro, [the church agency] that maintains and safeguards such a masterpiece of art and faith.”

Finally, the Pontiff stressed that this anniversary should reawaken “in every catholic the desire to be like living stones (1 Pt: 2,5) to build the Holy Church in which the ‘light of Christ’ is brightly visible through charity that is lived and witnessed before the world.”

Following the prayer, Benedict XVI greeted in different languages the pilgrims who had gathered in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. When he came to greet them in Italian, a group of young people from Naples (Italy) began to sing a well-known Neapolitan song, Ohi vita, Ohi vita mia. Amused and cheerful, the Pope responded saying: “I see there is no lack of Easter joy” among you.