Benedict XVI leaves the papacy on February 28 for "lack of strength"

Pope Benedict XVI said he will leave pontificate on 28 February during the canonization of the martyr of Otranto, according to Ansa news agency.
The pope, 85, made ​​the decision "for lack of strength" because of their age, according to an article in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.


The AFP confirmed statements Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi: "The Pope has announced he will resign his ministry at 8 pm on February 28."

Benedict XVI, born in Germany in 1927, was elected the 265th pope on April 12, 2005, after the death of John Paul II.

He becomes the first pope to abdicate his pontificiado since the fifteenth century. The last one was Gregory XII in 1415, who did it "for the good of the Church" during the so-called schism from Rome, when three popes had proclaimed to the prelate.