I feel quite unable to believe it, but it is true – His Holiness Benedict XVI has staggered all, by announcing that he freely renounces the Papacy, on the grounds of ill-health, effective as of 8 pm Rome time on Friday 28th February. A conclave will then be held to elect his successor.
Pray, pray for the Holy Roman Church, that she be not long bereaved of an earthly pastor, but that the Cardinals may elect a worthy successor to this most humble Supreme Pontiff, the first since St Celestine V to resign the Papal throne, and, like him, doing so conscious of his frailty, and intent upon henceforth devoting himself to a life of prayer.
