1. The State of Israel（http://www.mfa.gov.il）
President Peres on resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, 11 February 2013
Under his leadership the Vatican has been a clear voice against racism and anti-Semitism and a clear voice for peace.
President Peres with Pope Benedict XVI during his pilgrimage in May 2009 (Photo: GPO)
(Communicated by the Office of the President)
President Shimon Peres, this evening (Monday, 11 February 2013), reacted to the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and said:
"I am saddened by the decision of Pope Benedict XVI to step down, and I wish him a long and healthy life. Pope Benedict has the depth of a great thinker, the sincerity of a great believer, the passion of a peace maker, and the wisdom to relate to changes in history without changing his values.
When Pope Benedict XVI visited Jerusalem and the Holy Land, I welcomed him with a word common to both our faiths - shalom - and under his leadership the Vatican has been a clear voice against racism and anti-Semitism and a clear voice for peace. Relations between Israel and the Vatican are the best they have ever been and the positive dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people is a testament to his belief in dialogue and cooperation."
2. Union of Catholic Asian News（http://www.ucanews.com）
(1) For Pope Benedict, dreams did not come true Many of his aims remain unfulfilled, 12 February 2013
by Fr Bill Grimm, Tokyo
Pope Benedict XVI has tried to make his mark on history by repeated and varied attempts to draw the Catholic Church back to its past.
So, it is ironic that Benedict’s place in the history books will probably be ensured not by those attempts, but by his going back in history to do what no pope has done since Gregory XII abdicated in 1415.
Pope Benedict’s announcement that he will retire at dinner time on February 28 was not a total surprise. During the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger spoke about the possibility, even the necessity, of papal resignations.
As pope, he also spoke about the possibility of retirement in a 2010 interview. Observers of recent events had speculated that the pope might soon step aside.
Clearly, one of the dreams that Benedict brought to his papacy was the welcoming back to the fold of the schismatic Society of St Pius X that had rejected the most recent ecumenical council, Vatican II.
Toward that end, he had lifted excommunications on four bishops of the group, only to have the move turn into an international scandal when almost immediately it became known that one of the four is a Holocaust denier.
The fact that Joseph Ratzinger is a German, was a member of the Hitler Youth and was drafted into the German military in World War II made the embarrassment especially painful.
Not only did the pope give the SSPX and its ilk permission to use the form of the Mass that had been superseded by the liturgical reform after Vatican II, but he mandated that bishops and priests cooperate with such groups to an unprecedented degree.
At the same time, he oversaw a uniform re-Latinization of liturgical translations throughout the world that has been especially unpopular among English-speaking clergy.
The archbishop that the pope appointed to deal with the SSPX said that Pope Benedict had "bent over backwards" to accommodate the group. And the result? Continued rejection of his overtures that in the past few months made it clear that none of the pope’s efforts would ever succeed in drawing the ultra-traditionalists back.
Pope Benedict’s dream that a return to elements of "the good old days" might lead to a restoration of European Catholicism backfired.
Former bastions of Catholicism such as Austria, Ireland and Poland have experienced mass defections during his papacy. Outside Europe but still in the West, "former Catholic" has become one of the largest religious identifications in the United States.
Even the diocese that Cardinal Ratzinger once led has become a leading locus of departures in Germany.
Benedict’s big hope has shattered, and at 85 it is too late to find a new dream. Months ago, observers began to speculate that saddened by the realization that his project was a failure the pope might step aside.
Speculation increased when last December Benedict suddenly created new cardinals outside the usual schedule for such appointments. He seemed anxious to bring the number of cardinals eligible to vote in a conclave up to the full number without waiting a few extra months.
Had his doctors told him something that made filling the electors’ seats something that could not wait? Was he planning to resign? Or both?
It is still early to know what Benedict XVI’s legacy will be, but already it is clear that several elements will be part of it.
Most likely the first will be the fact that the scandal of sexual abuse and cover-up that festered during the papacy of John Paul II blew up under Benedict.
He made laudable attempts to respond pastorally, as when he met with victims in several countries. But by then, the world and the Church wanted and needed more.
People wanted to see bishops who had covered up abuse or who had themselves been abusers made to suffer the consequences of their sins of omission and commission. It did not happen. Anger, disillusion and defection followed.
In an age where ecumenism and interreligious dialogue have assumed great importance, Benedict did a service in outlining at least part of the Catholic position on various issues, since dialogue is only possible between parties who know what they really believe and who know where their differences lie.
But his assertions that often ignored the breadth and nuances of Catholic teaching and thought alienated would-be dialogue partners instead of inviting them into deeper exploration of points of agreement and disagreement.
Benedict’s academic style of presentation did not always work in the marketplace. Lacking pastoral experience (his only parish assignment was for six months following his ordination in 1951), the pope never seemed able to speak in ways that could get his ideas across to the masses, even though he was the first pope in history to include a joke in an encyclical.
Even before Vatican II, there had been calls for a lessening of the concentration of power in the Vatican curia. No pope since the council has been successful at responding to those calls. In fact, under John Paul II and Benedict XVI the centralization increased.
Then, "Vatileaks" paraded before the world the corruption, infighting and pettiness in the Vatican that are the inevitable accompaniment of non-accountability.
Benedict’s seeming intransigence on matters of reproduction, sex, gender and women in the Church alienated more and more people rather than inviting them into dialogue.
There is tragedy in the papacy of Benedict XVI. He hoped to restore a style of being Church for the world. Whatever one thinks of the adequacy of his vision, it is sad for someone to reach the end of his career with the realization that he did not achieve what he set out to do.
And so, it is likely that in a century, when papal retirement may be the norm, the papacy of Benedict XVI will be remembered not for any long-lasting achievements, but for its innovative end.
・Fr Bill Grimm MM is the publisher of ucanews.com based in Tokyo.
(2) Resignation: roundup of comment from around the world, 12 February 2013
Here is a digest of comment, analysis, opinions - both positive and negative - and facts about the Pope's resignation.
Pope was considering quitting for months: Georg Ratzinger
From AP/India Today
The pope's brother, Georg Ratzinger, says the pontiff had been advised by his doctor not to take any more transatlantic trips and had been considering stepping down for months.
Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign Feb 28.
Talking from his home in Regensburg to the news agency dpa, Georg Ratzinger said his brother was having increasing difficulty walking and that his resignation was part of a "natural process."
"His age is weighing on him," the 89-year-old said of his 85-year-old brother. "At this age my brother wants more rest."
Georg Ratzinger did not answer his telephone for calls seeking further comment.
A sign from above? Lightning strikes Vatican after Pope Benedict resigns
From Megan Levy for the Sydney Morning Herald
Pope Benedict XVI's resignation came like a bolt from the blue overnight.
And the weather around the Vatican was eerily appropriate, with lightning striking St Peter's Basilica, one of the holiest Catholic sites, on the same day that Pope Benedict announced he would be stepping down.
Global news agency Agence France-Presse published an image of lightning striking the basilica's dome, which it said was taken "on the day the Pope" announced his resignation.
AFP said the striking image was captured by photographer Filippo Monteforte, who works for Italian national news and photo agency ANSA.
Monteforte's website shows that he has photographed the Pope extensively for for more than a decade. He is also listed as a AFP photographer, with a portfolio of his work on the news agency's website.
The image was doing the rounds on social media overnight, with some people questioning its authenticity.
Fairfax Media photographer Nick Moir said the image looked genuine.
"It's probably not that rare for St Peter's to get hit," he said. "The bolt is hitting a lightning rod to the side of the cross, it seems."
A pope of surprises, and none more than his last
From the Telegraph
When Pope Benedict was elected at the age of 78 in 2005, he was an old man in a hurry. He knew that in the course of nature he did not have long. His priorities were not those of a politician, and, an academic by training, he set out to epitomise his thought in four encyclicals: on charity, hope, social justice and (still to come) faith.
He also succeeded in finishing a trilogy of books on the life of the central figure of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth – written, surprisingly, in his private capacity, not as pope. But nothing surprised the world like his resignation.
To resign as pope seems a very modern step (even if the precedents were medieval) and the motive entirely reasonable: “incapacity to fulfil adequately the ministry entrusted” to him. Joseph Ratzinger’s reasonable outlook was exactly the impression he left when he visited Britain in 2010. The naysayers misjudged the public reaction.
In Westminster Hall, the Pope argued for “the legitimate role of religion in the public square”, and his audience of MPs and peers listened, and applauded, as did the nation beyond. This was not the mythical Rottweiler his enemies portrayed
Last Pope to Resign Faced Division Within the Church
From Rick Gladstone for the New York Times
The last pope to resign, Gregory XII, did so in 1415, 10 years into his tenure, in the midst of a leadership crisis in the church known as the Great Western Schism. Three rival popes had been selected by separate factions of the church, and a group of bishops called the Council of Constance was trying to heal the schism. Gregory XII offered to resign so that the council could choose a new pope whom all factions would recognize. It took two years after Gregory XII’s departure to elect his successor, Martin V.
Other popes known to have resigned:
Pope Celestine V: A recluse who only reluctantly accepted his election in 1294, Celestine V resigned and fled the Vatican after just three months to wander in the mountains. According to a history timeline on Christianity.com, the bishop who became his successor, Boniface VIII, was intent on ensuring that Celestine V did not become an example for future popes, and ordered Celestine V seized and imprisoned as he was about to sail to Greece. He died in custody in 1296 at the age of 81, and was declared a saint in 1313.
Benedict IX: One of the youngest popes, he was elected at the age of about 20 in 1032, and became notorious for licentious behavior and for selling the papacy to his godfather, Gregory VI, in 1045, and then twice reclaiming the position.
Gregory VI: Considered a man of great reputation, Gregory VI had thought Benedict IX unworthy of the papacy, and essentially bribed him to resign. He was recognized as pope in Benedict’s stead, but when Benedict’s attempt at marriage failed and he wanted to return to the papacy, a power struggle ensued. A council of bishops called upon Gregory VI to resign after less than two years in office because he had obtained the papacy through bribery.
Can a pope resign?
From Thomas Reese for National Catholic Reporter
Yes, a pope can resign -- up to 10 popes in history may have resigned, but historical evidence is limited. Most recently, during the Council of Constance in the 15th century, Pope Gregory XII resigned to bring about the end of the Western Schism and a new pope was elected in 1417. Pope Celestine V's resignation in 1294 is the most famous because Dante placed him in hell for it.
Most modern popes have felt resignation is unacceptable. As Paul VI said, paternity cannot be resigned. In addition, Paul feared setting a precedent that would encourage factions in the church to pressure future popes to resign for reasons other than health. Nevertheless, the code of canon law in 1917 provided for the resignation of a pope as do the regulations established by Paul VI in 1975 and John Paul II in 1996. However, a resignation induced through fear or fraud would be invalid. In addition, canonists argue that a person resigning from an office must be of sound mind (Canon 187).
In 1989 and in 1994, John Paul II secretly prepared letters offering the College of Cardinals his resignation in case of an incurable disease or other condition that would prevent him from fulfilling his ministry, according to Msgr. Sławomir Oder, postulator of the late pope's cause.
The 1989 letter was brief and to the point; it says that in the case of an incurable illness that prevents him from "sufficiently carrying out the functions of my apostolic ministry" or because of some other serious and prolonged impediment, "I renounce my sacred and canonical office, both as bishop of Rome as well as head of the holy Catholic Church."
In his 1994 letter the pope said he had spent years wondering whether a pope should resign at age 75, the normal retirement age for bishops. He also said that, two years earlier, when he thought he might have a malignant colon tumor, he thought God had already decided for him.
Then, he said, he decided to follow the example of Pope Paul VI who, in 1965, concluded that a pope "could not resign the apostolic mandate except in the presence of an incurable illness or an impediment that would prevent the exercise of the functions of the successor of Peter."
"Outside of these hypotheses, I feel a serious obligation of conscience to continue to fulfill the task to which Christ the Lord has called me as long as, in the mysterious plan of his providence, he desires," the letter said.
Pope Benedict resigns: The power of letting go
From Matthew M. Schmalz for the Washington Post
Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation with grace and humility. He was heeding the call of conscience and recognizing his own human limitations.
While there have been resignations in the papacy’s past, letting go of papal power has never been framed in such a powerful way.
There is indeed power in letting go.
Letting go allows for the operation of the Holy Spirit, for it is by recognizing our own limitations we find, paradoxically, the power to transcend them. But there are also more worldly implications to the process of letting of go in this particular case. By giving up the papacy in this way, and at this time, Benedict will have the opportunity to shape the choice of his successor.
Benedict’s papacy has been marked by personal humility and a continuing reassertion of papal authority worldwide. Benedict did not include the pPapal tiara on his coat of arms, preferring instead a bishop’s mitre. He has also shown himself to be uncomfortable with the personal adulation that often accompanies the papal office. When he speaks, it is in measured cadences full of theological depth and complexity.
Benedict, the placeholder pope who leaves a battered, weakened church
From Andrew Brown for The Guardian
Pope Benedict's resignation has been planned for some time – Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, knew about it before Christmas – but it is still a stunning shock to the outside world. No pope has willingly resigned since Pope Celestine V in 1294. Pope John Paul II hung on for years – he was dying of Parkinson's disease – while the machinery of the Vatican rotted about him.
During the decrepitude of John Paul II, Pope Benedict, as Cardinal Ratzinger, was his right-hand man. It may be that his experience then planted in him a wish to leave office while he was still able to discharge his duties.
Although his accession was greeted with horror by the liberals in the church, he spent almost all his time in office struggling ineffectually with the problems inherited from John Paul II. His most remarkable innovation was his decision to resign as he felt his powers failing. That ought to be a precedent that the church will make use of again.
Pope Benedict's greatest legacy may be his books
From James Martin SJ for America Magazine
His most lasting legacy, I would suggest, will not be in the various “newsworthy” acts of his papacy that were highlighted in the media so often (his long negotiations with the breakaway Society of St. Pius X, his strong actions against the sexual abuse accusations made against the powerful founder of the Legion of Christ, the revised English translation of the Mass, his own response to the sexual abuse crisis, or the controversy over the comments that angered the Muslims, and so on) but something far more personal: his books on Jesus.
Far more people will most likely read those moving testaments to the person who is at the center of his life—Jesus of Nazareth—than may read all of his encyclicals combined. Others may disagree about this aspect of his pontificate, but in these books, the pope brought to bear decades of scholarship and prayer to the most important question that a Christian can ask: Who is Jesus?
This is the pope’s primary job--to introduce people to Jesus--and Pope Benedict did that exceedingly well.
(3) Resignation: what will Pope Benedict do after he leaves?, 12 February 2013
The pope will be faced with a question that no pope has had to answer for the last 600 years.
by Alessandro Speciale
Pope Benedict XVI will continue living inside the Vatican once his retirement becomes official on Feb. 28, but observers say he will probably keep a low profile — both before and after the election to choose his successor.
The 85-year old German will officially step down from the papacy at 8 p.m. local time on Feb. 28.
As the Roman Catholic Church prepares for the election of a new pope, Benedict will move to the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, just outside of Rome.
But this will only be a temporary abode.
According to the Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, after the election Benedict will settle in a former cloistered convent inside the Vatican walls, which is currently being renovated.
During a press conference on Monday (Feb. 11), Lombardi said Benedict will “lead a life of prayer,” and will be free to “move and communicate to the public” as he pleases.
But Benedict will probably keep a low profile after his resignation, without running any risk of overshadowing the work of his successor.
He’s going to live in a monastery, and life in a monastery is very quiet,” Gregory Burke, a former Fox News correspondent who is now the Vatican’s senior adviser for communications, told Religion News Service.
According to Burke, in the coming years Benedict will spend his time in retirement “mostly to read, study and pray.”
While the pope had hinted in 2010 that he could resign if he felt “no longer physically, psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office,” few expected him to actually step down now.
Just recently, the Vatican had announced the schedule for Easter celebrations presided by Benedict. And the Catholic Church is in the middle of a “Year of Faith” proclaimed by the pope himself that’s scheduled to end in November 2013. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia even had plans to host him in 2015.
The pope’s health has been declining in the last few months and he had started leaning on a cane to walk.
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to lead his general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican Feb. 8. RNS photo by Paul Haring/Catholic News Service
Following the example of his predecessor Pope John Paul II, last year Benedict also started using a moving platform to move around during lengthy liturgical celebrations in St. Peter’s Basilica.
But Lombardi denied that there was any specific illness or condition behind the pope’s decision to step down.
According to the Vatican spokesman, in today’s world the papacy requires a “vigor, perhaps stronger than in the past. It is a vigor that the Pope says he has felt diminish in him in recent months.”
In the weeks leading up to Feb. 28, Benedict will continue to “fully carry out his functions,” Lombardi said, including the official opening of Lent on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 13).
He stressed that Benedict will have no role in the conclave to elect his successor, nor in running the church in the weeks leading up to the opening of the conclave after he officially resigns.
“The Apostolic Constitution gives no role in this transition to a pope who resigns,” he said.
(4) Benedict's resignation was no great surprise, 12 February 2013
Latest from our Vatican correspondent
Alessandro Speciale, Vatican City
From betting companies such as PaddyPower to wily Italian politicians who gear up for national elections just a few days ahead of “resignation day” on February 28, Pope Benedict's decision to step down from the papacy has been parsed all over the world, as believers and non-believers alike try to gauge the impact of this not unprecedented but rare move.
His shock announcement took much of the world by surprise and sent the media into a frenzy.
After all, it has been more than 600 years – since 1415, when Gregorius XII resigned to bring to a temporary end the schism between Western and Eastern Christianity – that a pope had not died on the job.
But a keen observer could have seen the signs building up for quite a long time ahead of Monday's announcement.
The main item pundits have been turning to in the frantic hours that followed the news is a passage in a book-length interview Benedict gave to German journalist Peter Seewald in 2010.
“If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign,” he had said then.
But in the same interview Benedict had also stressed that “one can resign at a peaceful moment or when one simply cannot go on. But one must not run away from danger and say that someone else should do it.”
As the Church has been rocked by many scandals during Benedict's pontificate, chief among them the sex abuse crisis in the US, Europe and Australia, one can argue there haven't been many “peaceful moments.”
Particularly, last year that was marked by the so-called Vatileaks affair.
Benedict – though respecting the procedures and timings of the Vatican tribunal that tried and sentenced his former butler Paolo Gabriele for stealing confidential documents and leaking them to the press – seemed keen to turn a page on that embarrassing story.
Just ahead of Christmas, he pardoned Gabriele and waived his 18-month prison term, while making sure that he and his family found work in a Vatican-connected hospital in Rome.
By then, according to the pope's older brother, Georg Ratzinger, Benedict had already made up his mind to resign.
The decision was “several weeks” in the making, according to Vatican sources, even if it was taken in the utmost secrecy and only known by a few of the pope's closest collaborators.
In fact, the Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, confided to journalists on Monday that he, as most people in the Vatican, was quite “surprised” by the move.
Even the dean of the College of Cardinals – Angelo Sodano, who today briefly responded in “disbelief” to the pope's announcement saying it was “lightning in a clear sky” – was probably alerted only a few days ago, on February 8, when the pope granted him an unusual audience.
Nevertheless, Benedict had made some symbolic gestures in the past.
On April 28, 2009, while visiting the earthquake-stricken city of L'Aquila in central Italy, he made sure to pay homage to the tomb of Pope Celestine V, a saintly hermit who became famous for resigning the papacy in 1294, earning the eternal condemnation of Dante Alighieri who included him in his Inferno.
Benedict, instead, stopped in silent prayer at Celestine's tomb and left there his own pallium – a liturgical vest he had received when he started his pontificate.
Yet few expected Benedict, though almost 86 and growing frailer in recent months, to follow in Celestine's steps, especially so soon.
The fact that he had called the Church to celebrate a Year of Faith, which will close in November 2013, had convinced many that he was resolved to carry on with his job.
Instead, in what the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano hailed as an “extraordinary gesture of humility,” Benedict decided to step down.
He did so with “courage” and “freedom of spirit,” according to Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.
With his move, he definitely managed to attract praise and sympathy from the many quarters that had followed his eight-year pontificate with skepticism and even hostility.
All recognized the hallmark of a millenia-old institution that comes to grips with modernity in Benedict's acknowledgment that “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 Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary.”
Most importantly, his last decision will probably be the one that will have the largest impact on the future of the Catholic Church, setting a precedent that future popes will find hard to ignore.
・Alessandro Speciale is the Vatican correspondent for ucanews.com.
(5) Asia reacts to pope's resignation, 12 February 2013
Mixed feelings on Benedict's tenure
by ucanews.com reporters, Asia
Clerics and lay Catholics across Asia are coming to terms with Pope Benedict’s announcement on Monday that he would step down as pontiff.
Some have expressed shock at the resignation – the first since Gregory XII stepped down in 1415.
Others say they had suspected that Benedict’s eight-year pontificate would end this way.
However, there was wider agreement that his successor should heed the growing vitality and importance of Asia to the Universal Church.
“The new pope should be open to dialogue with the bishops of the world, forge good relationships with them, empower the local as well as the Universal Church pastorally,” said Holy Cross Archbishop Patrick D’Rozario of Dhaka.
He added that what the Church needs now is a guide, not an autocrat.
Muliawan Margadana, chairman of the Indonesian Catholic Graduates and Intellectuals Association, was more explicit.
"I hope that in coming days the next pope will give more attention to the fast-growing Church in Asia and Africa. If possible, I wish the new pope will come from Asia or Africa.”
Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi said Pope Benedict was an ally of the Church in Pakistan, where its minority status often puts it at odds with the predominantly Muslim population.
“He was supportive of our stance regarding the blasphemy law and other issues related to the minority Christian community.”
Meanwhile two Indian cardinals, who will join the consistory to elect the next pope, praised Benedict XVI for his contributions to the Indian Church.
“Pope Benedict XVI has always shown great affection for me and for the Malankara Catholic Church. Without him, the Church would not have received recognition so easily,” said Cardinal Baselios Mar Cleemis of the Syro-Malankara Church, installed as cardinal in November last year.
Cardinal George Alencherry, installed in October, said he was not surprised by the resignation and that despite what he saw as the pontiff’s declining health, Benedict remained a vital force for the Indian Church.
“The Holy Father may have been weak because of poor health in past months, but he had clarity of vision and communication, and always kept the Oriental Church in high esteem,” he said.
In Myanmar, where the Church has attempted to keep pace with democratic reforms as the country attempts to overcome decades of authoritarian rule, Church leaders characterized Benedict’s abdication as courageous.
Archbishop Paul Zinghtung Gawng of Mandalay said Benedict showed “great courage and humility” in recognizing his diminished capacity to fulfill his duties.
While acknowledging hopes that the next pontiff would come from outside Europe, Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon admitted that this was not likely.
“It is very hard to guess who Benedict’s successor will be, but I think he will come from Europe or South America,” he said.
For some, the abdication presents the Church with an opportunity to embrace real change and break from tradition in the selection of a new pope.
Father Bartholomew Choi Jai-in, a retired priest from South Korea's Suwon diocese, suggested that the Church suffered from having an elderly pope.
“When I see images of an old and feeble pope in the media, it makes me think of the Church itself as old and feeble,” he said.
“We need a young pope who will lead the Church dynamically.”
Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, archbishop emeritus of Cebu, echoed these sentiments.
Expressing admiration for Benedict, Cardinal Vidal – at 82, not allowed to participate in the consistory according to Canon Law – said changing times require a change in Church leadership.
“What can we do? The modern Church needs someone younger, someone who is physically fit,” he said.
Another Philippine cardinal will participate in the forthcoming consistory – Cardinal Antonio Tagle of Manila, who many have speculated since his elevation last year could be a bold if unlikely choice as successor.
At 55, and noted for his natural charisma with the media, Cardinal Tagle would seem to embody the hopes of many for a younger, more modern and, most importantly, non-European pontiff who reflects the changing demographic of the Church.
But despite such speculation, the news of Benedict’s departure was met with equanimity, gratitude for his service and hope for the future as the Church continues to face some of its most difficult challenges.
One such challenge is China.
Bishop Joseph Gan Junquiu of Guangzhou, recognized by the Chinese government and the Vatican, said Benedict had made a substantial impact on the embattled Church in China.
While relations between Beijing and Rome had not normalized as many had hoped under his guidance, Benedict had nonetheless provided essential guidance with a pastoral letter to China in 2007 that “could lay the foundation for this normalization in the future,” Bishop Gan said.
Oswald Cardinal Gracias, installed by Benedict in 2008 and one of 11 Asian bishops who will select the next pontiff, spoke for many in Asia in a statement that acknowledged the loss to the Church in Benedict’s abdication and hope that the Church would find a proper guide to take it forward.
“We will surely miss a great spiritual leader for our modern times – a man of clarity of thought on religious and secular issues and unafraid and courageous to speak the truth in matters of faith and morals,” said Oswald Cardinal Gracias, archbishop of Bombay and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, in a statement.
“At this moment we pray even more intensely for the Church that we get a leader of great holiness, wisdom, compassion and courage.”
3. Malaysiakini(http://www.malaysiakini.com)
Pope announces resignation in historic move, 11 February 2013
by Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere, AFP
Pope Benedict XVI announced today he will resign as leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics on Feb 28 because his age prevented him from carrying out his duties - an unprecedented move in the modern history of the Catholic Church.
"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," the 85-year-old pope said in a speech pronounced in Latin at a meeting of cardinals in the Vatican.
"In order to govern the ship 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 recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me," he said.
"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 April 19, 2005, in such a way, that as from Feb 28, 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," he said.
Pope Benedict, who has looked increasingly weary in recent months and often has to use a mobile platform to move around St Peter's basilica during Church services, had hinted in a book of interviews in 2010 that he might resign if he felt he was no longer able to carry out his duties.
Caught by surprise
"The pope caught us a bit by surprise," Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi said at a hastily-arranged press conference.
The only other pope to resign because he felt unable to fulfil his duties was Celestine V in 1296, a hermit who stepped down after just a few months in office, saying he yearned for a simpler life and was not physically capable for the office.
Tributes poured in from around the world, with a spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel saying the German-born pope deserved "respect" and "gratitude" for his nearly eight years as pontiff.
French President Francois Hollande said the pope's decision was "eminently respectable".
Benedict, formerly Joseph Ratzinger, succeeded the long-reigning and popular John Paul II in April 2005 after serving nearly a quarter-century as the Church's doctrinal enforcer, earning himself the nickname "God's Rottweiller".
His papacy has been marked by his efforts to revive the Catholic faith amid rising secularism in the West, as well as the scandals of child abuse by Catholic priests that was hushed-up for decades.
Benedict has championed Christianity's European roots and showed his conservatism by repeatedly stressing family values and fiercely opposing abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage.
- AFP
(End)
