Pope Benedict XVI to resign

Pope Benedict XVI to resign on Feb. 28, Vatican says
By Claudio Lavanga and Alastair Jamieson
NBC News
Updated at 6:52 a.m. ET: ROME -- Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday he will resign on February 28 because of his failing health, saying he no longer has the strength to carry out his duties. The 85-year-old announced his decision during an address, in Latin, at the "Concistory for the canonization of the martyrs of Otranto", a small event held in the early morning.

The decision, which appeared to take even the Vatican by surprise, makes him the the first pope to resign since at least 1415.

His statement was posted on the Vatican Radio website.

He said carrying out the duties of being pope — the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide — requires "both strength of mind and body."

"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," the pontiff's statement said.
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