Pope to Resign at the End of February

On Monday morning, Catholics were shocked to hear that Pope Benedict XVI announced he was resigning as Pontiff. Church officials at the Vatican announced that the Pope told his senior clergy he would be resigning February 28.

For much of the nearly 8 years he has been Pope, Benedict has dealt with numerous health issues. The Pope is 85 and gave his resignation speech in Latin to the cardinals in the Vatican on Monday morning during a weekly meeting.

He said to his cardinals that because of diminished strength and his advanced age it was becoming difficult to perform his daily duties as pope and felt it was best he resign. He told his cardinals he was fully aware of what his resignation means. Benedict will be the first Pontiff since 1415 to resign on a voluntary basis. That year Pope Gregory XII resigned his position.

Since 2005, Benedict has been the leader of the Catholic Church, but he has had a difficult time. The pontiff has been criticized harshly for his way of handling the sexual abuse scandals the church has faced due to decades of sexual abuse against church parishioners by priests and other members of the clergy.

The Church will now hold a conclave to elect its next pope in mid March prior to the Easter holiday. Normally a mourning period is needed following the death of a Pope, since that is not the case in this situation, a vote for a new pope can take place much quicker.

No specific frontrunners have been named even though there are several contenders, which also happened when Benedict was elected pontiff following the passing of Pope John Paul II.