Pope Benedict Announces Resignation

Pope Benedict XVI has shocked the world, by announcing he will retire.

On Monday, he announced that he will resign his office, effective on February 28 at 20:00.

"Before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise."

Benedict, now eighty-five, was elected to the office in 2005.

He will become the first pope in nearly six hundred years to resign, rather than die in office.

Gregory XII, was the last to do so, in 1415.

Now comes the debate and rumor mill of who will replace Benedict.

With Easter coming on March 31, expectations are high that the new pope will be in place for the holy day.