Pope Benedict XVI To Resign

Pope Benedict XVI, 85, will leave the papacy at the end of the month, according to a statement delivered early Monday morning.

Born Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope said “in order to govern the barque 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.”

A Vatican spokesman said the Pope would continue to carry out his duties until Feb. 28 and that a successor could be elected by Easter, which falls this year on March 31. But, he also added, the timing for an election of a new Pope is “not an announcement, it’s a hypothesis.”

Benedict XVI was the 265th ^Pope and upon his arrival in 2005, the oldest new pope in history at 78. His tenure was marked by the ever escalating sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. He himself did not escape scorn. A report revealed that in 1985, while serving as a Cardinal, he had signed a letter preventing to defrock a convicted priest.

He is the first pope to resign since Gregory XII did so in 1415 – nearly 600 years ago.