Pope resignation announcement text
Reuters –
ROME (Reuters) - The following is the text of the speech that Pope Benedict
delivered in Latin to members of a consistory, or church council,
announcing his planned resignation on Monday. It was distributed by the
Vatican in a statement:
"Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you
to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to
communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the
Church. 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. I
am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature,
must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with
prayer and suffering. However, in today's world, subject to so many
rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of
faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter
and proclaim the Gospel, both 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. 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, entrusted to me
by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28
February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter,
will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.
"Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the
love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask
pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to
the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his
holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her
maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to
myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the
future through a life dedicated to prayer."
(Reporting by Steve Scherer)
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