facebook
rss
twitter
  • About
    • Contact
    • Elementary & Secondary Education Department
    • Social Concerns Department
  • Legislative Review
  • Issues
    • Catholic Education
    • Faith and Politics
    • Health Care
    • Life and Dignity
    • Marriage and Family
    • Religious Liberty
    • Social Justice
  • Bishops’ Statements
    • En Español
  • Resources
    • Bulletin Inserts
    • Church Documents
    • PA Catholic Statistics
    • Related Sites
    • Send A Letter to The Editor
  • Subscribe
    • RSS Feeds
    • Via E-mail
  • Contact
  • Podcast

Pope Benedict Announces He Will Resign

February 11, 2013
by Blue
Catholic News Service, pope benedict, resignation
Comments are off

pope benedictFrom the Catholic News Service:

 

Saying he no longer has the strength to exercise ministry over the universal church, Pope Benedict XVI announced Feb. 11 that he would be resigning at the end of the month.

“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 told cardinals gathered for an ordinary public consistory to approve the canonization of new saints.

Pope Benedict, who was elected in April 2005, will be the first pope to resign in almost 600 years.

He told the cardinals, “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, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.”

The pope has had increasingly trouble walking in the past year, often using a cane and always being assisted getting up and down steps. However, the Vatican has never released medical information that would make it appear the pope suffers from anything other than joint pain connected to his age.

The option of a pope to resign is explicitly written into the Code of Canon Law. It says a pope may step down, but stipulates that the decision must be made freely and “duly manifested.”

Fulfilling the canonical requirement, Pope Benedict solemnly declared to the cardinals, “Well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of bishop of Rome, successor of St. 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 St. Peter, will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new supreme pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.”

It is up to the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, to make preparations for a conclave to elect a new pope.

Before ending his remarks, Pope Benedict told the cardinals, “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.”

The pope made no mention of his future plans, other than to say, “I wish to also devotedly serve the holy church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.”

 

For more information, visit Catholic News Service and www.news.va.

About the Author
Social Share
  • google-share

News From Around PA

  • Pope hospitalized for respiratory infection, Vatican says
  • Archbishop Pérez: Join in prayer for the intention of the Holy Father’s good health
  • Photo Feature: Archdiocesan Mass for Persons with Disabilities
  • The Historical and the Mystical
  • Stop the Government from turning VA hospitals into illegal Abortion Clinics
  • Golden Apple Educators Announced for Diocese of Harrisburg
Click To Read More

Post Archives

Unable to load Tweets

Follow

Recent Posts

PA Budget Hearings for Wednesday, 3-29-23
Mar 29, 2023
PA Budget Hearings for Tuesday, 3-28-23
Mar 29, 2023
Budget hearings at the PA Capitol
Mar 21, 2023

All Issues

  • Catholic Education
  • Faith and Politics
  • Health Care
  • Life and Dignity
  • Marriage and Family
  • Religious Liberty
  • Social Justice

banner

Sign up to join the Catholic Advocacy Network today!

CClogo© 2021 Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Bookmark and Share Site by Halibut Blue® | Login