Feb11-2013
Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world on Monday Feb 11, 2013 when he announced his resignation. Cardinal Angelo Sodano said: "It was like a lightening bolt in a clear blue sky." Then, at 6:00 pm a lightening bold struck the Basilica of St. Peter.
The Lightening
Pope Benedict XVI To Resign February 28, Vatican Says
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Pope Benedict XVI Resigns: Lightning Bolt Strikes St Peter's Basilica As Vatican Confirms Pontiff's Departure
The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI came like "a bolt from the blue", according to the dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano.
And it wasn't just the Vatican and Catholic followers who were shocked.
Just hours after Pope Benedict XVII announced his resignation, a bolt of lightning came down from the heavens, hitting the dome of St Peter's Basilica.
The Renaissance church is one of the holiest Christian sites.
The Pope announced his intention to resign on February 28, which is when the selection process for a successor will begin, in the hope of appointing a new pontiff by Easter.
The Vatican said immediately after his resignation that Pope Benedict will go to Castel Gandolfo, a summer retreat south of Rome, and then would live in a cloistered monastery.
The Huffington Post UK | By Jessica Elgot Posted: 11/02/2013 11:04 GMT | Updated: 11/02/2013 13:51 GMT
Pope Benedict XVI is to resign at the end of this month, the Vatican has confirmed, stating that his ailing health means he can no longer meet the challenges the church must face in the modern world.
Citing his "advanced age", the 85-year-old told the Vatican he would resign on February 28, at 8pm as he was "no longer suited" to carrying out the tasks his role demanded. He is the first Pope to resign since 1415.
In an official statement, the Pope said he had "repeatedly examined my conscience before God" but had concluded "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."
In the statement, he hinted that the challenges of the modern world and the quest for the Catholic church to remain relevant needed to be tackled by a younger, stronger character.
"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"
He said he was "well aware of the seriousness of this act".
According to Italian news agency ANSA, the announcement was made in person, in Latin, during an "ecclesiastical council discussing the canonisation of the martyrs of Otranto."
The dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, described the Pope's resignation as "a bolt from the blue".
Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI has been in the post for seven years, taking office at the age of 78, one of the oldest new Popes in history.
He is the first "digital Pope", appearing on Twitter last year as @Pontifex, and racking up almost 1.5m followers.
His last tweet gave no clue to his resignation, but spoke of redemption for sinners.
Benedict XVI
According to AP, a conclave will elect a new pope before the end of March.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said the announcement has "shocked and surprised everyone."
"Yet, on reflection, I am sure that many will recognise it to be a decision of great courage and characteristic clarity of mind and action.
"The Holy Father recognises the challenges facing the Church and that “strength of mind and body are necessary” for his tasks of governing the Church and proclaiming the Gospel.
"I salute his courage and his decision.
"I ask people of faith to keep Pope Benedict in their prayers. We Catholics will do so, with great affection and the highest esteem for his ministry as our Holy Father remembering with joy his Visit to the United Kingdom in 2010."
The Archbishop of York John Sentamu called the departing Pope "a great theologian with great spiritual depth."
Pope Gregory XII was the last pope to resign, almost 600 years ago, during the Western Schism when three challengers claimed the papal throne.
Adam Hills
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.”
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Pope Benedict Resigns: Full Statement From Vatican
Posted: 11/02/2013 11:18 GMT | Updated: 11/02/2013 18:10 GMT
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.
From the Vatican, 10 February 2013
BENEDICTUS PP XVI
Catholic Church in uncharted waters after pope resignation
Agence France-PresseVATICAN CITY—The Catholic Church entered uncharted waters on Tuesday after Pope Benedict XVI’s shock announcement that he would become the first pontiff to resign in more than 700 years.
The 85-year-old Benedict told a group of cardinals in a speech in Latin on Monday that he will step down on February 28 because he could no longer fulfil his duties in a fast-changing world.
A report in Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore said his decision may have been for health reasons.
The newspaper said Benedict underwent heart surgery less than three months ago to replace his pacemaker — an operation that was kept out of the public eye.
While the surgery went well, the report quoted advisors as saying that it made the pope reflect on whether he could continue to guide the Church.
The Vatican has said the decision was not due to illness.
Only a few advisors knew of the pope’s plan and many in the Vatican hierarchy were caught off guard, with Cardinal Angelo Sodano saying it was “like a lightning bolt in a clear blue sky.”
Sodano embraced the pope following the momentous announcement, after which the pope returned to his rooms in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace and broke down in tears, Italian daily La Stampa reported.
“He could not hold back the emotion any more,” the report said, adding that the pope had taken his decision after suffering a fall during a trip to Mexico and Cuba last year that was not made public.
Several observers said Benedict wanted to avoid the fate of his predecessor and mentor, John Paul II, who suffered a long and debilitating illness.
French cardinal Paul Poupard said it was clear from the start of the pope’s speech to around 50 cardinals that he was stepping down.
“I understood from the very first words and I said ‘My God’,” he told France’s Le Figaro newspaper. “I saw the faces opposite me express astonishment, stupor.”
Ordinary faithful among the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics were stunned by the announcement.
“An historic, unexpected and humble announcement,” read a headline in Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference.
The official Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, said it was “an unprecedented event”.
Some faithful said the move was a courageous act that would breathe new life into a Roman Catholic Church struggling with multiple crises and could possibly set a precedent for ageing popes.
Others expressed dismay that a leader whose election by the Church’s cardinals is believed to be divinely inspired could simply decide to quit.
World leaders said they were respectful of the decision and praised his pontificate, particularly for increasing inter-religious dialogue.
The pope’s eight-year rule — one of the shortest in the Church’s modern history — also earned him plenty of enemies, however, from the gay community and AIDS activists to the many shocked by the abuses of pedophile priests and the multiple cover-ups.
An academic theologian and the author of numerous tomes, including a trilogy on the life of Jesus Christ, the pope was often seen as somewhat distant from the day-to-day running of the Church.
The Vatican said the ex-pope would initially stay at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome and then retire to a former monastery with a flower garden inside the Vatican walls — a stone’s throw from where his successor will live.
Speculation over who could be the next pope was already in full swing in Rome, although even seasoned observers cautioned that predictions of future popes are notoriously unreliable.
The field appears wide open, with some saying the papacy could return to an Italian for the first time since 1978, others saying it could go to a North American candidate and still others saying Africa or Asia could yield the next pope.
Several analysts said the fact that the pope was resigning precisely because of his advancing age could favor the choice of a relatively young pope.
The Vatican has said it expects a new pope to be in place in time for Easter, which falls on March 31 this year, although the decision is ultimately up to the cardinals meeting in a secret conclave.
They send a signal of black smoke each day until a decision is taken with a two-thirds majority.
White smoke is then put out from the Vatican palace when a candidate has been approved.