Pope to Also Resign as Bishop of Rome

Pope Benedict XVI has said he will also renounce the office of Bishop of Rome on 28 February, but added he will keep serving the church "through a life dedicated to prayer".

The pope said his strength is no longer adequate to continue in office as pope, in an announcement that shocked all people, not only Catholic believers, around the world.

In an official statement, he said:

"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...

"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 bark 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 recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me."

He became Pope in 2005 following John Paul II's death.

Resignations from the papacy are not unknown, but this is the first in the modern era, which has been marked by pontiffs dying while in office.

At 78, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of the oldest new popes in history when elected.

He took the helm as one of the fiercest storms the Catholic Church has faced in decades - the scandal of child sex abuse by priests - was breaking.

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