Pope Benedict XVI resigns as head of the Catholic Church (VIDEO and GALLERY)

By Cheryl Mullin
Feb 11 2013

THE pope is to resign his office after declaring he was too old to carry on as head of the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI will quit on February 28, the Vatican said today, adding the announcement was a surprise.

A Vatican statement said the pope was unable to continue in office due to his age and diminishing strength, he is 85, and the papacy will remain vacant until a successor is elected.

He is the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March.

The pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals this morning.

“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,'' he told the cardinals. “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.

Show Caption

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the City and to the World) speech from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012. Pope Benedict XVI has wished Christmas peace to the world, decrying the slaughter of the "defenseless" in Syria and urging Israelis and Palestinians to find the courage to negotiate.
File photo dated 20/04/11 of Pope Benedict XVI (right) as he is embraced by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams during a Celebration of Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey in central London on the second day of his State Visit. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
Pope Benedict XVI waves from the popemobile wearing a Mexican sombrero as he arrives to give a Mass in Bicentennial Park near Silao, Mexico, Sunday, March 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano)
Pope Benedict XVI looks on during the traditional exchange of Christmas greetings to the Curia, in the Regia Hall, at the Vatican, Monday, Dec. 20, 2010.
In this photo released by Italian Police faithful crowd St. Peter's Square and Via della Conciliazione at the Vatican, Sunday, May 1, 2011. Pope Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II before 1.5 million faithful in St. Peter's Square and surrounding streets Sunday, moving the beloved former pontiff one step closer to possible sainthood in one of the largest turnouts ever for a Vatican Mass. (AP Photo/Massimo Sestini, Polizia di Stato)
In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI meets new Vatican Swiss Guards and their families , in the Vatican's Clementina Hall, Friday, May 6, 2011 prior to their swearing-in ceremony. The swearing in ceremony is held each May 6 to commemorate the day in 1527 when 147 Swiss Guards died protecting Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)
The Pope meets two Crosby youngsters
File photo dated 16/09/10 of The Duke of Edinburgh looking on (left) as Queen Elizabeth II talks with Pope Benedict XVI exchange gifts during an audience in the Morning Drawing Room at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
A seagull flies past Pope Benedict XVI delivering his blessing during the Angelus prayer he celebrated from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013 (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Benedict XVI arrives to lead a mass on Beirut's waterfront, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012. The Pope celebrated an open-air Mass for tens of thousands of pilgrims from across the Middle East, saying Christians must do their part to end the "grim trail of death and destruction" in the region. "I appeal to you all to be peacemakers," Benedict said. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives for an audience with newly-appointed cardinals and their relatives, in Hall Paul VI at the Vatican, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. On Saturday the pope created 24 new cardinals. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful during a mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012. The Pontiff in his New Year's homily Sunday praised young people as key to securing a future of hope despite what he called "shadows on the horizon of today's world." In the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica, with ambassadors to the Holy See from dozens of countries seated in the front rows
Picture by Jason Roberts. Representative of Pope Benedict XV1 His Excellency Archbishop Antonio Mennini at the Solemn Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral Liverpool after a weekend visit to the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
Annabel and Andrew from Crosby both got to meet the Pope
In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI meets the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon and the Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church Louis Raphaýl I Sako during a private audience at the Vatican Monday, Feb. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano, ho)
Pope Benedict XVI reads to the congregation, during a Celebration of Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey in central London on the second day of his State Visit. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
The Pope and Crosby youngsters
Pope Benedict XVI rides in the Popemobile down Edinburgh's Princes Street on the first day of his four day visit to the United Kingdom. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
pch The Pope outside Westminster Cathedral. Photograph taken by Philip Chidell, 16, of Chester who hopes to become a priest. Please credit Philip Chidell
Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful upon his arrival at Bellahouston park to celebraste an open-air mass in Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010. Pope Benedict XVI is on a four-day visit the first-ever state visit by a Pope to Britain. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict XVI pass Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond (left) as they walk through the gardens at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, on the first day of his four day visit to the United Kingdom. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
The Prince of Wales with Pope Benedict XVI in the library at the Vatican. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
Archbishop of Westminster, Reverend Vincent Nichols talks to reporters at the Foreign Office, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
Pope Benedict XVI is handed Maria Pyszczak to be blessed, as he arrives at Glasgow's Bellahouston Park ahead of an open-air mass during the first day of a four day visit to the United Kingdom. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
Pope Benedict XVI looks on as he celebrates mass at Fatima's sanctuary,Thursday, May 13, 2010. Tens of thousands of pilgrims flooded the famous shrine town of Fatima on Thursday for Pope Benedict XVI's Mass celebrating the anniversary of the day when three shepherd children reported having visions of the Virgin. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Benedict XVI delivers his Angelus prayer from his window overlooking the courtyard of his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, on the outskirts of Rome, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
People listen as Pope Benedict XVI conducts a Mass at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
Pope Benedict XVI holds his Holy Staff as he celebrates an Epiphany Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008. The pontiff criticized a world with luxury for a few and poverty for many and called for moderate lifestyles to ensure fair distribution of wealth amid a scramble for natural resources. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Benedict XVI smiles as he meets journalists on the flight from Sydney, Australia, to Rome at the end of his visit to Australia on the occasion of the World Youth Day Monday, July 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Benedict XVI waves to faithful during the "Urbi et Orbi" (to the City and to the World) message in St. Peter's square at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008. The Pontiff in his Christmas message warned that the world was headed toward ruin if selfishness prevails over solidarity during tough economic times for both rich and poor nations.
Pope Benedict XVI wears a "saturno hat", inspired by the ringed planet Saturn, to shield himself from the sun as he is driven through the crowd of faithful prior to his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006.
Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd during the General Audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday May 11, 2005. (AP Photo/Massimo Sambucetti)
Pope Benedict XVI waves after his arrival at the Pantaleon cloister in Cologne, Germany, Friday, Aug 19, 2005. Pope Benedict XVI arrived Thursday on his first foreign trip as pontiff to take part in the Roman Catholic Church's 20th World Youth Day in Cologne. (AP Photo/Michael Dalder, pool)
Pope Benedict XVI leaves Westminster Abbey with The Dean of Westminster, following a prayer service with the Archbishop of Canterbury, on the 2nd day of the Papal viasit to the UK.
Pope Benedict XVI in Cofton Park, Birmingham.
Pope Benedict XVI leaves Westminster Abbey with The Dean of Westminster, following a prayer service with the Archbishop of Canterbury, on the 2nd day of the Papal viasit to the UK.
Pope Benedict XVI in Cofton Park, Birmingham.
Pope Benedict XVI with ArchBishop Vincent Nichols
Pope Benedict XVI leaves Westminster Abbey with The Dean of Westminster, following a prayer service with the Archbishop of Canterbury, on the 2nd day of the Papal viasit to the UK.
Pope Benedict XVI leaves Westminster Abbey with The Dean of Westminster, following a prayer service with the Archbishop of Canterbury, on the 2nd day of the Papal viasit to the UK.
Pope Benedict XVI in Cofton Park, Birmingham.
Pope Benedict XVI in Cofton Park, Birmingham.
Pope Benedict XVI in Cofton Park, Birmingham.
Pope Benedict XVI in Cofton Park, Birmingham.

“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 bark 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 recognise my incapacity to adequately the ministry entrusted to me.”

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

The pope called his choice “a decision of great importance for the life of the church.”

There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner as was the case when Pope Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.