“Pope Benedict XVI, saying he no longer has the strength to lead the world’s 1 billion Catholics, will resign from the papacy at the end of the month, the first such abdication in almost 600 years.
“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,” he said today in an address to senior church officials in Rome.
Pope Benedict, the 265th leader of the Roman Catholic Church, said his resignation would take effect at 8 p.m. on Feb. 28. He will step down two months before his 86th birthday after serving for almost eight years as pontiff after succeeding John Paul II.
The resignation of Benedict may reopen rifts within the Church as pressure builds to name a pope from the developing world where Catholicism is growing and offsetting declines in Europe and the U.S. The new pope will be chosen through a conclave, a special gathering of cardinals who are sequestered in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican until they can agree on a successor.
Pope Benedict will have no role in choosing his successor, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said at a press conference in Rome. The pope will initially retire to his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo before transferring to live in a convent, Lombardi said.
Monti Shaken…”
According to Saint Malachy, the next Pope will be the last….
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