{"id":240,"date":"2013-02-11T22:59:30","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T22:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/?p=240"},"modified":"2025-09-30T01:47:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T01:47:25","slug":"text-of-the-holy-fathers-announcement-of-his-resignation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/?p=240","title":{"rendered":"Text of the Holy Father’s announcement of his resignation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\"Benedict<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The link also has a further link to the video of Benedict XVI's announcement<\/p>\n

Declaratio<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear Brothers,<\/em><\/p>\n

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations,
\nbut also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of
\nthe Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have
\ncome to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer
\nsuited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine <\/strong>ministry.  I am well aware
\nthat this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out
\nnot only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However,
\nin today\u2019s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of
\ndeep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter
\nand proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength
\nwhich in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have
\nhad to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to
\nme. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full
\nfreedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of
\nSaint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way,
\nthat as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint
\nPeter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have
\nto be convoked by those whose competence it is.<\/p>\n

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which
\nyou have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects.  And
\nnow, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord
\nJesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the
\nCardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme
\nPontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church
\nof God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer. <\/p>\n

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013<\/em><\/p>\n

BENEDICTUS PP XVI<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The link also has a further link to the video of Benedict XVI's announcement Declaratio Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pope-benedict-xvi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":784,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions\/784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life-net-bf3c43.ingress-alpha.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}