POPE Benedict resigns at the age of 85

 POPE Benedict resigns at the age of 85

Pope Benedict says he needs to resign due to his advanced age

The news which carryon on Monday Morning. He surprise the enter world include the young youth in Roman Catholic Church.  According to most popular viewer says he was surprise when he said he want to resign due to his age, I thought it was a joke but when I saw the seriousness on his face that when I know that he was serious. How ever

THE head of the Roman Catholic Church and bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI, say is tires that he needs to resign he surprise the world on Monday, when he announced his resignation at the age of 85.

The Pope said he could no longer carry on as the pontiff, due to his age, which limits his capacity to adequately fulfill the Petrine ministry entrusted to

him.

Consequently, Benedict XVI is the first Pope in the last 598 years to stand down since Gregory XII quit in 1415, because he “no longer has the strength to carry on.”

The 85-year-old German-born Pope, hailed as a hero by conservative Catholics and viewed with suspicion by liberals, said he had noticed that his strength had deteriorated over recent months.

A Vatican spokesman told Reuters the Pope had not resigned because of “difficulties in the papacy” and the decision had been a surprise, indicating that even his closest aides were unaware that he was about to quit. The Pope does not fear schism in the Church after his resignation, the spokesman said.

The Pope’s leadership of 1.2 billion Catholics has been beset by a child sexual abuse crisis that tarnished the Church, one address in which he upset Muslims and a scandal over the leaking of his private papers by his personal butler.

In a statement, the pope said in order to govern “…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.

“For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter.”

Before he was elected Pope, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was known by such critical epithets as “God’s Rottweiler” because of his stern stand on theological issues.

But after several years into his new job he showed that he not only did not bite but barely even barked.

In recent months, the Pope has looked increasingly frail in public sometimes being helped to walk by those around him.

A Vatican spokesman said the pontiff would step down from 19.00 GMT on February 28, leaving the office vacant until a successor was chosen to Benedict who succeeded John Paul, one of history’s most popular pontiffs.

A spokesman for the German government said he was “moved” by the news while Israel’s chief rabbi praised Benedict’s inter-faith outreach and wished him good health.

Elected to the papacy on April 19, 2005 when he was 78, 20 years older than John Paul was when he was elected, he ruled over a slower-paced, more cerebral and less impulsive Vatican.

But while conservatives cheered him for trying to reaffirm traditional Catholic identity, his critics accused him of turning back the clock on reforms by nearly half a century and hurting dialogue with Muslims, Jews and other Christians.

Under the German’s meek demean our lay a steely intellect ready to dissect theological works for their dogmatic purity and debate fiercely against dissenters.

After appearing uncomfortable in the limelight at the start, he began feeling at home with his new job and showed that he intended to be Pope in his way.

Despite great reverence for his charismatic, globe-trotting predecessor — whom he put on the fast track to sainthood and whom he beatified in 2011 - aides said he was determined not to change his quiet manner to imitate John Paul’s style.

A quiet, professorial type who relaxed by playing the piano, he managed to show the world the gentle side of the man who was the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer for nearly a quarter of a century.

The first German pope for some 1,000 years and the second non-Italian in a row, he travelled regularly, making about four foreign trips a year, but never managed to draw the oceanic crowds of his predecessor.

Full text of Pope’s declaration

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. 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. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with 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 Saint 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. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint 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 Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, 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. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

Archbishop of Canterbury received Pope’s decision ‘with heavy heart’

THE spiritual head of the world’s Anglicans said it was with a “heavy heart” that he learned of Pope Benedict’s decision on Monday to step down as pontiff, adding he fully sympathized with the decision.

“It was with a heavy heart but complete understanding that we learned this morning of Pope Benedict’s declaration of his decision to lay down the burden of ministry as Bishop of Rome, an office which he has held with great dignity, insight and courage,” said Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, leader of the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion.

Welby, who only officially took over his role last week after his predecessor Rowan Williams resigned after a decade in the job, said he gave thanks to God for Benedict’s life “utterly dedicated, in word and deed, in prayer and in costly service, to following Christ.”

“We pray that God will bless him profoundly in retirement with health and peace of mind and heart, and we entrust to the Holy Spirit those who have a responsibility to elect his successor,” Welby said in a statement.

Pope will be missed by all – Cameron

THE BBC also reported that British Prime Minister, David Cameron said the Pope will be missed as a spiritual leader to millions.

“He has worked tirelessly to strengthen Britain’s relations with the Holy See. His visit to Britain in 2010 is remembered with great respect and affection. He will be missed as a spiritual leader to millions,” Cameron said.

Possible successors of Pope

With Pope Benedict’s stunning announcement that he will resign later this month, the time may be coming for the Roman Catholic Church to elect its first non-European leader and it could be a Latin American.

The region already represents 42 per cent of the world’s 1.2 billion-strong Catholic population, the largest single block in the Church, compared to 25 percent in its European heartland.