Pope Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who took office in 2005 following the death of his predecessor, said on Monday that he will resign on 28 February, the first pope to do so in six centuries.
Regarded as a doctrinal conservative, the pope, 85, said that after examining his conscience ‘before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are longer suited to an adequate exercise’ of his position as head of the world’s Roman Catholics.
The announcement is certain to plunge the Roman Catholic world into frenzied speculation about his likely successor and to evaluations of a papacy that was seen as both conservative and contentious.
The pope said his ‘strength of mind and body’ had ‘deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.’
Elected on 19 April, 2005, Pope Benedict said his papacy would end on 28 February. He was a popular choice within the college of 115 cardinals who elected him as a man who shared – and at times went beyond – the conservative theology of his predecessor and mentor, John Paul II, and seemed ready to take over the job after serving beside him for more than two decades.
Regarded as a doctrinal conservative, the pope, 85, said that after examining his conscience ‘before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are longer suited to an adequate exercise’ of his position as head of the world’s Roman Catholics.
The announcement is certain to plunge the Roman Catholic world into frenzied speculation about his likely successor and to evaluations of a papacy that was seen as both conservative and contentious.
The pope said his ‘strength of mind and body’ had ‘deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.’
Elected on 19 April, 2005, Pope Benedict said his papacy would end on 28 February. He was a popular choice within the college of 115 cardinals who elected him as a man who shared – and at times went beyond – the conservative theology of his predecessor and mentor, John Paul II, and seemed ready to take over the job after serving beside him for more than two decades.