Pop Benedict Resigns at 85.

Pope Benedict XV1 made a shock decision today during a meeting of Vatican cardinals.

Benedict XV1 will stand down as leader of the catholic church.

Benedict's deterioration during the last few months has been particularly noticeable.

Pope Benedict XVI is to stand down as leader of the Catholic church, he announced today.
In a decision that has shocked even his closest aides, the 85-year-old Pontiff said his health was 'no longer adequate to continue in office due to his advanced age'.
He announced his resignation in Latin to a meeting of Vatican cardinals this morning, emphasizing that leading more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide requires 'both strength of mind and body.'
The Pope's decision is unprecedented. He is the first to resign since Gregory XII in 1415, but no Pontiff in history has stepped down on health grounds.
Although officials said there had been no pressure for him to resign, the internet is already awash with speculation that there was a more sinister reason behind his decision.
Speaking in on of the Vatican's state rooms, the Pope today told cardinals: '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 by 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 barque of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary - strengths 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.

We wish him quick recovery.