Pope resigns: Too old, too frail

Pope Benedict XVI is to stand down as leader of the Catholicchurch he announced yesterday In a decision that has shocked even his closest aides the 85yearold Pontiff said his health was lsquono longer adequate to continue in office due to his advanced agersquo He announced his resignation during a meeting of Vatican cardinals last morning emphasising that leading more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide requires lsquoboth strength of mind and bodyrsquo The Pope said ldquoAfter 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 by words and deeds but no less with prayer and sufferingrdquo He added ldquoHowever in todayrsquos world subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith in order to govern the barque of St Peter and proclaim the Gospel both strength of mind and body are necessary mdash strengths which in the last few months has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to merdquo Benedict who was known as lsquoGodrsquos rottweilerrsquo said he was making the decision in lsquofull freedomrsquo but was lsquofully aware of the gravity of this gesturersquo Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said he would officially retire on February 28 ldquoItrsquos taken us a bit by surprise Wersquove had to organise ourselves very quickly Wersquove had no warning of what the Pope was about to announce The declaration is crystal clear and we need to go through it word by word The Pope says that he looked in a personal way and had a deep moment of reflection to consider the mission that he had received from Godrdquo The last pope to resign was Gregory XII in 1415 He did so to end a civil war within the church u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ELECTS A POPE Roman Catholic cardinals seeking a successor to Pope Benedict XVI will hold a conclave to elect a new pontiff Only cardinals are eligible to take part in the conclave which will continue until a successor is chosen The cardinals will meet in the Vaticanrsquos Sistine Chapel and hold two voting rounds a day until they choose a new pope with a twothirds majority They had to sleep in makeshift cells and share minimal sanitary facilities But new regulations issued by Pope John Paul II in 1996 allow them to live in a new hotel built on Vatican grounds behind St Peterrsquos Basilica and even take walks in the tiny statersquos peaceful gardens between their voting rounds Another reform lets the cardinals opt for a simple majority vote if they have not succeeded in electing a pope after about two weeks of balloting When the cardinals are in agreement the chosen one will say lsquoAcceptorsquo a puff of white smoke above will emerge from the chimney bells will toll and a cardinal will appear at the central window of St Peterrsquos Basilica to declare lsquoHabemus papamrsquo lsquoWe have a popersquo Precedents for papal resignations While papal resignations are extremely rare there are precedents in the two millennia history of the Catholic Church gtgtu00a0Marcellinus This early church pope abdicated or was deposed in 304 after complying with the Roman emperor39s order to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods gtgtu00a0Benedict IX Sold papacy to his godfather Gregory VI and resigned in 1045 gtgtu00a0Celestine V Overwhelmed by the demands of the office this hermetic pontiff stepped down after five months as pope in 1294 Pope Benedict XVI prayed at his tomb in the central Italian city of L39Aquila in 2009 gtgtu00a0Gregory XII Gregory XII stepped down in 1415 to help end a church schism A papacy marred by controversies gtgtu00a0Hitler Youth Born in Bavaria Germany into a family of farmers the Pope39s time in the Hitler Youth which he joined at the age of 14 was swiftly highlighted by the media after his appointment He was drafted in an antiaircraft unit in Munich as he was studying in Traunstein seminary but he deserted towards the end of the war gtgtu00a0Child Sex Abuse Scandal In 2005 when Pope Benedict succeeded Pope John Paul II the church was engulfed in the priest child sex abuse scandal and damaging claims that local dioceses were complicit in their coverup Shortly before his election in 2005 he spoke out about the scandal at Stations of the Cross at the Coliseum saying ldquoHow much filth there is in the Church and even among those who in the priesthood ought to belong entirely to himrdquo gtgtu00a0Vatileaks The VatiLeaks scandal involved a former papal butler who leaked hundreds of Catholic documents which attempted to prove corruption power struggles and incompetence at the highest levels gtgt u00a0Relationship with Jews In 2008 the Pope angered the Jewish community by promoting a new version of the Good Friday prayer for the Jews lsquoto be delivered from darknessrsquo VOICES The Queenrsquos a year older than The Pope Canrsquot see her ever resigning because she39s tired mdash Piers Morgan If the pope himself after thorough reflection has come to the conclusion that he doesn39t have the strength anymore to carry out his duties then this has my utmost respect mdash Angela Merkel German Chancellor I send my best wishes to Pope Benedict following his announcement today He has worked tirelessly to strengthen Britainrsquos relations with the Holy See mdash David cameron Britainrsquos Prime Ministeru00a0