Huhuonline.com understands that the Vatican will experience a change of guard by the end of the month. Pope Benedict XVI is to resign on February 28th, a Vatican spokesman has announced.
“The pope announced that he will leave his ministry at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) on February 28,” said the spokesman, Federico Lombardi.
Angelo Sodano, a senior Vatican cardinal described the announcement as “a bolt from the blue”.
Recall that in 2012, the Pope began using a cane on occasions and recently he appeared to have trouble reading the text of an address he delivered in Rome.
Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, the 85-year-old German was elected Pope in April 2005 at 78 years, making him the oldest person to occupy the position.
Just before his appointment to the helm of the papacy, Pope Benedict XVI had been planning to retire due to age-related health challenges; and it is on record that after his appointment, he had, himself, predicted that his reign would be short.
His major health troubles include a hemorrhagic stroke in 1991, a “mild stroke” in May 2005, a heart operation in November 2006, and the 2009 breaking of his right wrist after falling while on vacation in the Alps.
