VATICAN CITY
CNN
[with video]
From Hada Messia, CNN
updated 6:37 AM EST, Mon February 11, 2013
Rome (CNN) — Pope Benedict XVI will resign on February 28, his spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told CNN Monday.
The 85-year-old pope is resigning “because of advanced age,” Benedict told the cardinals of the Catholic Church on Monday.
“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,” the pope told the cardinals, according to the Vatican.
The last pope to resign was Gregory XII in 1415. He did so to end a civil war within the church in which more than one man claimed to be pope.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.