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, 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. I am well aware that this ministry, due
to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words
and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. 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 Saint Peter
and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary,
strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent
that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry
entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness
of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of
Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals
on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00
hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave
to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose
competence it is. Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely
for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry
and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church
to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his
holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her
maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to
myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future
through a life dedicated to prayer.
From the Vatican, 10 February 2013
BENEDICTUS PP XVI
