In his press release, the Pope said that “my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”
He added that since “both strength of mind and body are necessary” to carry out the responsibilities of his position as head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI stated that he is stepping down from “the ministry of Bishop of Rome.”
Chosen to the Papacy by his peers in a 2005 Conclave, he previously held one of the Church’s most powerful jobs as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a position to which he was appointed by his predecessor, the late Pope John Paul II, in 1981.
Benedict XVI is also one of his generation’s most prominent theologians. In his mid-thirties, he was a well-regarded papal advisor during the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965, an event which had a profound impact on the direction and nature of the Roman Catholic Church.
The last Pope to resign was Gregory XII in 1415.
No comments:
Post a Comment