The decision by the 85-year-old German born as Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger and ordained a priest in the aftermath of World War II shocked not only many of his flock, but a host of his closest aides.
During a tumultuous eight-year tenure, Benedict guided the church through sexual abuse and financial scandals while seeking to reinforce Conservative doctrine among the global ranks of more than 1 billion faithful.
Quiet and soft-spoken, especially in comparison to his gregarious predecessor Pope John Paul II, Benedict nevertheless maintained a vigorous travel and speaking schedule, visiting Lebanon as recently as September and, in December, launching the first ever papal Twitter account.
He was 78 when he was elected pope in 2005, the oldest person chosen to head the church since the 18th century.
The resignation, announced at a time when the Vatican is wracked by allegations of internal power struggles, ignited a flurry of speculation about the selection of the next pontiff. At a time when the church is declining in its former stronghold of Europe, but gaining strength its in Africa, Asia and Latin America, pressure is growing on the college of cardinals – the global princes of the church – to break with tradition by electing a non-European pope.
The conclave of cardinals that will choose the next pope is expected to convene in mid-March. Analysts immediately began predicting a turbulent debate between reformers and conservatives.
In keeping with his reputation as a traditionalist, Pope Benedict made his extraordinary announcement in Latin, to a private gathering of cardinals inside Vatican City. The news was then transmitted via official Vatican media, with Benedict citing his age and failing health as the key factors in his decision.
“I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me,” Benedict said. “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.”
The pontiff’s efforts to reinforce conservative teachings have sparked broad debate within the church as well as outside it. Benedict sought to promote a revival of the Latin mass and win back conservative Catholics opposed to the church reforms spelled out by the Second Vatican Council of 1962. He promoted a range of traditionalists into the Vatican hierarchy, and attempted to recruit new members, including, for example, Anglicans disenchanted with liberal views on female as well as openly gay clergy in their own denomination.
Quiet and soft-spoken, especially in comparison to his gregarious predecessor, Pope John Paul II, Benedict nevertheless maintained a vigorous travel and speaking schedule, visiting Lebanon as recently as September and, in December, launching the first ever papal Twitter account.
He was 78 when he was elected pope in 2005, the oldest person chosen to head the church since the 18th century.
The conclave of cardinals that will choose the next pope is expected to convene in mid-March. Lobardi, the Vatican spokesman, said Benedict will not participate in it. Analysts immediately began predicting a turbulent debate between reformers and conservatives.
In keeping with his reputation as a traditionalist, Benedict made his extraordinary announcement in Latin, to a private gathering of cardinals inside Vatican City.
“I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me,” Benedict said. “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.”
The pontiff’s efforts to reinforce conservative teachings have sparked broad debate within the church as well as outside it. Benedict encouraged a revival of the Latin Mass and promoted a range of traditionalists into the Vatican hierarchy, hoping to win back conservative Catholics opposed to the church reforms spelled out by the Second Vatican Council of 1962.
He attempted to recruit new members, including Anglicans disenchanted with liberal views on female as well as openly gay clergy in their own denomination. His unprecedented move to allow Anglican groups and clergy to become Catholic but remain in their own communities drew some 1,600 laypeople and 30 priests in North America alone. Benedict has designated 2013 the “year of faith,” or evangelization, encouraging Catholics who have spent a half-century focusing on their own disputes to return to being missionaries.
At various times, Benedict had made statements — some say gaffes — that included what critics called slights against Protestants, Muslims and Jews. He is seen as the most intellectual pontiff in generations , but was never quite able to exude the charisma that made Pope John Paul II a beloved figure among Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
“He will be remembered as a conservative pope,” said John Pollard, an expert on the modern papacy at Cambridge University. “People will remember his conservatism, moral high ground over same-sex marriage, women priests and contraception, his involvement in dealing with the pedophile scandals.”
Benedict departs amid a sense of crisis in the halls of a Vatican still reeling from a litany of scandals, and at a time when questions of reform are dividing Roman Catholics worldwide.
The most recent problems facing the church involve a bevy of documents leaked by the pope’s personal butler, Paolo Gabriele, to Italian journalists and alleging corruption and heated disputes within the marbled Vatican walls.
Benedict additionally faced the task of managing a crisis of faith in the church after scores of new pedophilia accusations surfaced in Europe in 2010.
As the church confronted allegations of cover-ups, the spotlight immediately focused on Benedict’s management of a case involving a German priest and sex offender while Benedict was bishop of Munich in 1980. Despite promises to the victim’s family that the priest would not work with children again, the priest was allowed to return to the ministry and molested more children.
Accusations also surfaced that a Vatican office headed by Ratzinger in the 1990s failed to defrock an American priest who allegedly molested 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin.
Benedict’s defenders have always said Benedict was unfairly savaged by the media for actions that predated his tenure, and hailed actions he took to address the scandals, including issuing a rare official apology to Catholics in Ireland for widespread clergy sexual abuse of children there.
The pope’s decision to step aside to make way for a new and almost surely younger pope was seen Monday as another manifestation of his fierce generosity and goodwill.
“As a Christian and as a Catholic, one can’t help but be moved and touched by this,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a news conference in Berlin, according to Reuters. “The German government has the highest respect for the Holy Father, for what he has done, for his contributions over the course of his life to the Catholic church. He has been at the head of the Catholic Church for nearly eight years. He has left a very personal signature as a thinker at the head of the Church, and also as a shepherd.”
During a trip to Washington in 2008, Benedict met with then-President Bush at the White House, visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast Washington and celebrated Mass for tens of thousands of Catholic faithful at Nationals Park. He called the abuse of minors by members of the clergy “evil” and “immoral” but said such conduct had to be eradicated in a broader attack on the degradation of modern-day sexuality.
Wilgoren reported from Washington. Michelle Boorstein and Maggie Fazeli Fard in Washington and Eliza Mackintosh in London contributed to this report.