First Pope to leave office in 600 years

Pope Benedict XVI did the unthinkable yesterday and said he will resign on February 28, becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to take such a step. The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, Pope Benedict said he no longer had the strength to fulfil the duties of his office. The statement, which the Pope read out in Latin during a Church council with cardinals convened to decide on the canonisation of three saints, shocked the world. “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,” the Pope said. Vatican officials later explained the statement had been translated in different languages before the Pope made his an­nouncement for immediate dissemination. The decision by the 85-year-old German Pontiff, who was elected to the papacy in April 2005, also surprised the leaders of the Maltese Catholic church. In a statement at the Archbishop’s residence in Attard, Archbishop Paul Cremona and Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna urged the faithful to pray for the Pope and the Church during this transition period. Mgr Scicluna, who...