Quote:
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says that Pope Benedict XVI will resign on Feb. 28. The announcement Monday was a surprise.
[
AP via Yahoo!]
Yeah, but what about those other two guys I'm always reading about -- the leader of the world's billion Catholics and the pontiff? Are they quitting too? And what about the papal horse race?
Quote:
He emphasized that carrying out the duties of being pope — the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide — requires "both strength of mind and body."
There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner — the same situation when Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.
[
ABC News]
People magazine calls it "totally unexpected," and shows the pope using a tablet computer. The Guardian blogs that the "news seems to have come as a complete surprise to everyone." [It also says, "The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII in 1415. My colleague Alex Fenton-Thomas is looking into that and will have more shortly." No comment yet from Gregory XII.]
The bad sports at
CNN have mentioned the "series of scandals." The commentariat is a lot ruder.
Fox News has the pipeline to God, so to speak:
Quote:
Pope Benedict XVI will resign at the end of February, the Vatican Press Office tells Fox News.
The
Journal knows big news when it sees it, and the need for attribution.
Quote:
"The act of renouncing is a very rare occurrence," said Dario Morelli, a canon law Ph.D student working at Portolano Cavallo legal studio.