Pope Benedict XVI 'to resign' on February 28th

February 11, 2013 - Pope Benedict XVI is to resign for reasons relating to his health, according to a Vatican spokesperson.

­The 85 year old is due to step down on February the 28th. The Pope said he is “fully aware of the gravity of this gesture” but that he lacks the strength to govern Church due to age, according to Vatican's spokesperson Federico Lombardi.


Vatican official says expects period between Benedict resignation and election of successor to be “as brief as possible,” the news agency reports.

In 2010, the 265th Pope said that he would not hesitate to become the first pontiff to retire willingly from his position in more than 700 years, if he felt himself unable, “physically, psychologically and spiritually” to run the Catholic Church any longer.

Pope Benedict said on Monday he will resign on Feb 28 because he no longer has the strength to fulfill the duties of his office.

The 85-year-old pope said he had noticed that his strength had deteriorated over recent months "to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me".

The Pope said he is “fully aware of the gravity of this gesture” but that he lacks the strength to govern Church due to age, according to Vatican's spokesperson Federico Lombardi.

"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," he said according to a statement from the Vatican.

The last time a pope resigned was in 1415. Back then Pope Gregory XII pronounced the resignation, which the cardinals accepted.

Since his assumption of the title, he has been embroiled in the ‘Vatileaks’ scandal, in which his former butler was accused of stealing confidential information, and leaking it to journalists. The leaked data, which surfaced in January 2012, contained detailed exposes of the institution, revealing the power struggles, factional fighting and personal finances of the Papacy.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is also expected to respond to the news later today, on account of the Pope’s German roots. He is the sixth German to serve as Pope, and the first since the 11th century.

The Pope's last tweet before resigning:

"We must trust in the mighty power of God’s mercy. We are all sinners, but His grace transforms us and makes us new."

Comment:

This pope is citing health concerns as the reason. The funny thing is that the previous pope was so sick he couldn't even walk on his own or talk and he didn't resign. Now this pope can not be as ill as the last one so this is bullshit.

Something is up or else something is getting ready to go down. Funny how he waited until the 2012 year was over to do this so as to not alarm the masses.

Alien invasion on the horizon? The rapture? Who knows? All I know is that something that has never happened before is happening now with the pope resigning and that foretells of something even bigger that is about to happen.