Benedict XVI, head of Roman
Catholic Church, will step down on February 28, due to ill health, the Vatican
says.
Pope Benedict XVI of the Roman
Catholic Church has decided to resign from his post due to ill health, the
Vatican has announced.
The Vatican ruled out depression
or uncertainty as being behind the resignation, saying the move was not due to
any specific illness, just advancing age.
"The pope announced that he
will leave his ministry at 8:00 pm (19:00 GMT) on February 28," said a
Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, on Monday.
"After having repeatedly
examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my
strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise
of the Petrine ministry."
Benedict, born Joseph Aloisius
Ratzinger, is the 265th pope, and began his papacy on April 19, 2005.
The pope had announced his
decision in Latin during a canonisation ceremony on Monday morning, according to our reporter, she said the move
to resign was "something that we have not seen in modern times".
Benedict, 85, said that he no
longer had the strength to fulfil his duties, due to his advanced age,
according to a statement from the Vatican.
"For this reason, and well
aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I
renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter," he
said.
The senior cardinal of the
Vatican will take over Benedict's duties following his stepping down, until a
conclave of Catholic Church cardinals can be held to choose his successor. The
conclave could be held as early as mid-March, as the traditional mourning time
that would follow the death of a pope does not have to be observed in this
case.
The Vatican said that it expected
the period between Benedict's stepping down and the selection of a successor to
be "as brief as possible", and that a successor could be elected
before Easter celebrations.
'Fatigued'
and 'exhausted'
Addressing the press following
the announcement, spokesperson Lombardi said that senior Vatican figures had
noticed that Benedict appeared "fatigued" and "exhausted"
in fulfilling his duties in recent days.
Source explains how the Pope
announced his retirement
Nevertheless, he said that the
decision to step down left church officials "incredulous". He
asserted that it was in full compliance with Church law.
Benedict had hinted in a book of
interviews in 2010 that he might resign if he felt he was no longer able to
carry out his duties.
The last pope to resign was Pope
Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism
among competing papal claimants. Benedict called his choice "a decision of
great importance for the life of the church".
After resigning, the former pope
will move to a summer residence near Rome. After that, he will live in a former
monastery within Vatican territory, Lombardi said.
World
reacts
Immediately
following the announcement, Francois Hollande, the French president, said the
decision was worthy of respect.
Benedict
addressed a consistory at The Vatican on Monday.
"I
have no special comment to make on this decision which is eminently
respectable," Hollande said, adding that France "hails the pope who
took this decision".
The
German government said that it had "the highest respect" for
Benedict.
"As
a Christian and as a Catholic, one can't help but be moved and touched by
this," said Steffen Seibert, a government spokesperson.
Yona
Metzger, Israel's chief rabbi, praised Benedict's interfaith outreach
programmes.
"During
his period [as pope] there were the best relations ever between the church and
the chief rabbinate and we hope that this trend will continue," a
spokesman quoted Metzger as saying after the pope announced he would resign.
Benedict
"will be missed as a spiritual leader to millions", David Cameron,
the British prime minister, said.
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