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(Photo: Vincenzo Pinto, AFP/Getty Images)
- Pope Benedict XVI will step down Feb. 28
- He will be the first pontiff to resign in 600 years
- Diminishing strength cited as reason behind resignation
The Italian news agency ANSA first reported the news, which it said was made in Latin during a meeting of cardinals in Rome. "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 told the cardinals. "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 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 St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary — strengths which in the last few months, have deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."
TEXT: Pope Benedict XVI's resignation
The pope's brother, Georg Ratzinger, said the pontiff had been advised by his doctor not to take any more transatlantic trips and had been considering stepping down for months. Talking from his home in Regensburg, Germany, Georg Ratzinger said his brother was having increasing difficulty walking and that his resignation was part of a "natural process."
The announcement comes as a surprise to millions of Catholics around the world.
MORE: Pope Benedict XVI first pope to resign in 600 years
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope in 2005 after the death of John Paul II. He is 85 years old and will be the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. 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."
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