By James
Mackenzie
VATICAN
CITY | Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:09am IST
(Reuters)
- Pope Benedict left the Catholic world in shock after becoming the first
pontiff since the Middle Ages to resign his office, saying that failing
strength had left him unable to lead the church through a period of relentless
change and turmoil.
The
85-year-old pontiff announced his abdication as leader of the world's 1.2
billion Catholics in a speech delivered in Latin, the universal language of the
church, to cardinals meeting in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.
"I
have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no
longer suited to the adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry," he said,
referring to the tradition that dates the papacy back to Saint Peter, 2,000
years ago.
He will
continue in office until 1900 GMT on February 28 before stepping down to allow
the election of a new pope, which Vatican officials said was expected to come
by the start of the Holy Week on March 24.
He is
expected to spend some time at the pope's summer residence near Rome before
retiring to spend his final years in a cloistered convent in the Vatican, and
will play no part in selecting his successor.
Famously
known as "God's Rottweiler" before his election in 2005, Benedict
fought against the spread of materialist values in society and strongly opposed
any relaxation of the church's traditional strictures against contraception,
homosexual acts or women priests.
His eight
years in office were overshadowed by scandals ranging from the sexual abuse of
children by priests to the arrest of his own butler for stealing confidential
papal documents in the so-called "Vatileaks" affair.
The pope
said he had left "with full freedom" and Church officials were at
pains to stress that the running of the Church would not be affected by his
unexpected departure, which surprised even close aides.
While his
surprise decision was greeted with respectful tributes from world leaders
including U.S President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, some
others underlined the problems which blighted much of Benedict's time in
office.
"I
deeply respect the decision of Pope Benedict XVI, especially since it is not in
line with tradition," said Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council
and himself a Catholic. "His pontificate has been short but very
difficult."
WHITE
SMOKE
The
complex machinery to choose a successor will move into gear, opening the way
for the conclave of cardinals whose decision will be announced with the release
of white smoke from a chimney in the Sistine Chapel.
Speculation
has grown that the Church could appoint its first non-European leader to
reflect the growing weight of regions such as Africa or Latin America, which
now accounts for 42 percent of the world's Catholics.
"It
could be time for a black pope, or a yellow one, or a red one, or a Latin
American," said Guatemala's Archbishop Oscar Julio Vian Morales after
Benedict's announcement.
After
Benedict's relatively brief papacy, which followed the 27-year pontificate of
John Paul II, the cardinals may also be inclined to choose a younger man than
Benedict, who was 78 when he was elected.
Whoever
is appointed will have to deal with regional issues and the tension between
conservative Catholics who have supported Benedict's strictly traditional
doctrinal line and others who feel he has stifled change and development.
"In
Europe, the Church is seeking a new relationship to society. In many countries
in Asia and Africa, it is experiencing an incredible expansion,"
Archbishop of Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn said.
Benedict
himself had a mixed record in dealing with cultures outside his own, triggering
fury among Muslims with a speech critical of Islam in 2006 and angering many in
Africa by opposing the use of condoms to combat the scourge of AIDS.
Never as
popular as the widely beloved John Paul, Benedict was a scholarly theologian
with little of the shrewd political instinct which elevated his predecessor to
the front rank of world statesmen.
His
decision to leave office shocked some Catholics, who felt that a pope should
stay in office until the end of his life, and his exit will leave the Church
with both a retired and a serving pope for the first time in hundreds of years.
The last
pope to leave office willingly was Celestine V, a saintly hermit who served
only a few months before abdicating in December, 1294. Another pope, Gregory
XII reluctantly abdicated in 1415 to end a dispute with a rival claimant to the
papacy. (Editing by Peter Graff)
http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/02/12/pope-benedict-resignation-vatican-idINDEE91A08L20130212
