Pope Benedict announces retirement

Updated

Pope Benedict XVI has surprised the world by announcing he will stand down at the end of this month because he is too old and frail to cope with the demands of his ministry.

The 85-year-old German-born pontiff, who was elected in 2005 but saw the Catholic Church rocked by a series of child abuse scandals during his reign, will become the first pope to stand down since the Middle Ages.

The Vatican says his successor will be elected by a conclave of cardinals before Easter Sunday, March 31.

Benedict, hailed as a hero by conservative Catholics but viewed with suspicion by liberals, said he had noticed that his strength had deteriorated over recent months.

"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," the 85-year-old said in a speech delivered in Latin at a meeting of cardinals in the Vatican.

Profile: Pope Benedict Born Joseph Ratzinger on April 16, 1927 in Germany's Bavaria region.

Father, also named Joseph, was a policeman.

Required to join the Hitler Youth at age 14.

Trained as an anti-aircraft gunner and was briefly taken POW in 1945.

Ordained as a priest in 1951, went on to teach theology at several universities.

Ordained as the 265th pope on April 19, 2005.

The first Pope to abdicate since Pope Gregory XII in 1415.

Read more about the life and work of Pope Benedict.

Dressed in red vestments and his voice barely audible as he read from a written text, the Pope made the announcement that he would resign on February 28 in a hall in his residence - the Apostolic Palace next to St Peter's Square.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said he expected a conclave of cardinals to be held in March within 15 or 20 days of the resignation and a new pope elected before Easter Sunday.

"The Pope caught us a bit by surprise," Mr Lombardi said at a hastily-arranged press conference.

He stressed that the Pope's decision was his own and was "well thought out" and that "there is no illness that has contributed to it".

Benedict, who has often had to use a mobile platform to move around St Peter's basilica during Church services, 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 Pope suffers from arthritis, had a stroke while he was still cardinal, and broke a wrist when he slipped in the bath in 2009.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was at the historic meeting as the Pope made his announcement, described it as a "a bolt of lightning in a clear blue sky".

Benedict's brother Georg Ratzinger said he had known "for a few months" that he was planning to resign and was "feeling the burden of his age."

In a statement, the Pope said in order to govern "...both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me".

"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 See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is."

The Pope said he would devotedly serve the Church through a life dedicated to prayer after his retirement.

The job of choosing a new pope lies in the hand of a conclave of cardinals who will meet in secret in the Sistine Chapel.

There has been growing pressure on the Church for it to choose a pope from the developing world to better reflect where most Catholics live and where the Church is growing.

"It could be time for a black pope, or a yellow one, or a red one, or a Latin American," Guatemala's Archbishop Oscar Julio Vian Morales said.

The only other pope to resign because he felt unable to fulfil his duties was Celestine V in 1294, a hermit who stepped down after just a few months in office saying he yearned for a simpler life and was not physically capable for the office.

In 1415, Gregory XII resigned in a bid to end the "Western Schism", when two rival claimants declared themselves pope in Pisa and Avignon and threatened to tear apart Roman Catholicism.

The Pope's leadership of 1.2 billion Catholics has been beset by a child sexual abuse crisis that tarnished the Church, an address in which he upset Muslims and a scandal over the leaking of his private papers by his personal butler.

Before he was elected Pope, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was known by such epithets as "God's Rottweiler" because of his stern stand on theological issues.

But after several years in his new job he showed not only that he did not bite, but barely even barked.

In recent months the Pope has looked increasingly frail in public, sometimes being helped to walk by those around him.

Australia's most senior Catholic, Archbishop of Sydney George Pell, said the Pope's decision had come as a surprise, and thanked him for his devoted leadership and service.

"Benedict has always loved the church and worked to do what was best for her," he said.

Historic resignation: Pope Benedict to step down Pacemaker revelation The Vatican says an operation on outgoing Pope Benedict's pacemaker played no role in his decision to resign. Shock resignation German-born Joseph Ratzinger will step down as Pope on 28 February, with his successor elected before Easter Sunday, March 31. 'God's rottweiler' Lateline explores the life and achievements of Pope Benedict XVI. Not a surprise Former Ambassador to the Holy See Tim Fischer says during his tender Pope Benedict gave a number of signals that he would resign. Writer and teacher Melbourne Archbishop Dennis Hart says the Pope has the 'correct focus' in stepping down due to his increasing frailty. 'We won't miss him' An Irish sexual abuse survivor's group spokesman says Pope Benedict 'promised so much, but delivered very little'.

Slower-paced Vatican

A spokesman for the German government said he was "moved" by the news, while Israel's chief rabbi praised Benedict's inter-faith outreach and wished him good health.

Elected to the papacy on April 19, 2005 when he was 78 - 20 years older than his predecessor John Paul was when he was elected - he ruled over a slower-paced, more cerebral and less impulsive Vatican.

But while conservatives cheered him for trying to reaffirm traditional Catholic identity, his critics accused him of turning back the clock on reforms by nearly half a century and hurting dialogue with Muslims, Jews and other Christians.

Under the German's meek demeanour lay a steely intellect ready to dissect theological works for their dogmatic purity and debate fiercely against dissenters.

After appearing uncomfortable in the limelight at the start, he began feeling at home with his new job and showed that he intended to be Pope in his way.

Despite great reverence for his charismatic, globe-trotting predecessor - whom he put on the fast track to sainthood and whom he beatified in 2011 - aides said he was determined not to change his quiet manner to imitate John Paul's style.

A quiet, professorial type who relaxed by playing the piano, he managed to show the world the gentle side of the man who was the Vatican's chief doctrinal enforcer for nearly a quarter of a century.

The first German pope for some 1,000 years and the second non-Italian in a row, he travelled regularly, making about four foreign trips a year, but never managed to draw the oceanic crowds of his predecessor.

String of scandals

The child abuse scandals hounded most of his papacy. He ordered an official inquiry into abuse in Ireland, which led to the resignation of several bishops.

Scandal from a source much closer to home hit in 2012 when the pontiff's butler, responsible for dressing him and bringing him meals, was found to be the source of leaked documents alleging corruption in the Vatican's business dealings, causing an international furore.

He confronted his own country's past when he visited the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

Calling himself "a son of Germany", he prayed and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, most of them Jews, died there during World War II.

Ratzinger served in the Hitler Youth during World War II when membership was compulsory. He was never a member of the Nazi party and his family opposed Adolf Hitler's regime.

But his trip to Germany also prompted the first major crisis of his pontificate. In a university lecture he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying Islam had only brought evil to the world and that it was spread by the sword.

After protests that included attacks on churches in the Middle East and the killing of a nun in Somalia, the Pope later said he regretted any misunderstanding the speech caused.

In a move that was widely seen as conciliatory, in late 2006 he made a historic trip to predominantly Muslim Turkey and prayed in Istanbul's Blue Mosque with a Turkish mufti.

But months later, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami met the Pope and said wounds between Christians and Muslims were still "very deep" as a result of the Regensburg speech.

The full statement from Pope Benedict: Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonisations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. 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. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me. 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, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is. Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer. From the Vatican, 10 February 2013



BENEDICTUS PP XVI

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