The talk of the day in Santo Domingo is the announcement that Pope Benedict XVI, 85, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who took office in April 2005 following the death of his predecessor John Paul II, will resign on 28 February. He will be the first Pope to do so in six centuries. Speaking for the Dominican Catholic Church, Monsignor Amancio Escapa expressed his surprise at the announcement made by Pope Benedict XVI, as reported in Hoy.
As reported, the Pope, who is regarded as a doctrinal conservative, said that after examining his conscience before God, he had come to the decision that his strength, due to his advanced age, was no longer suited to an adequate exercise of his role as head of the world’s Roman Catholics.
The announcement is certain to plunge the Roman Catholic world into frenzied speculation about who his likely successor will be and to evaluations of a papacy that was seen as both conservative and contentious.
In a statement in several languages, the Pope said his “strength of mind and body” had “deteriorated to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.”