» 02/11/2013 12:19 VATICAN Benedict XVI to resign as of February 28 The Pope himself announces: "I have reached the certainty that my strength, advanced age, are no longer appropriate to exercise the Petrine ministry properly."
Vatican City (AsiaNews)
- Benedict XVI has decided that he will
resign on February 28. The Pope himself announced
the move in Latin, during the consistory for the canonization of the martyrs of Otranto.
This is the message of Benedict XVI:
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 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 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.
