NPI's Cascadia Advocate

Offering commentary and analysis from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, The Cascadia Advocate provides the Northwest Progressive Institute's uplifting perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Monday, February 11th, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI surprises Catholics everywhere by announcing his retirement

Ear­li­er today, at the Con­cis­to­ry Hall in Vat­i­can City, Pope Bene­dict XVI shocked the world com­mu­ni­ty by announc­ing that he has decid­ed to step down as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church at the end of this month and allow the Col­lege of Car­di­nals to choose his suc­ces­sor while he is still alive.

In resign­ing, Bene­dict becomes the first pope in more than half a mil­len­ni­um not to serve until his death. The Vat­i­can said that he would retire to a monastery in Italy to live out the rest of his days. His suc­ces­sor will like­ly be cho­sen by Easter.

Bene­dic­t’s pre­pared state­ment was as fol­lows:

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 bar­que 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.

Bene­dic­t’s announce­ment quick­ly became the top sto­ry in media all over the globe. A num­ber of world lead­ers appeared very much sur­prised, while oth­ers react­ed more placid­ly through their press shops.

“On behalf of Amer­i­cans every­where, Michelle and I wish to extend our appre­ci­a­tion and prayers to His Holi­ness Pope Bene­dict XVI,” Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma said in a state­ment released around 9:45 AM Pacif­ic Time.

“Michelle and I warm­ly remem­ber our meet­ing with the Holy Father in 2009, and I have appre­ci­at­ed our work togeth­er over these last four years. The Church plays a crit­i­cal role in the Unit­ed States and the world, and I wish the best to those who will soon gath­er to choose His Holi­ness Pope Bene­dict XVI’s successor.

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