Pope Benedict's resignation: First reactions [Updated]

On Monday, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI will step down on Feb. 28, a very rare occurrence in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. "The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII in 1415," says Paul Owen at Britain's The Guardian. And the news of Pope Benedict's departure "seems to have come as a complete surprise to everyone," including prelates in the church. According to The Guardian's Lizzy Davies, the Catholic Church will be without a pope from Feb. 28 until the cardinals elect a replacement. Here's the Pope's statement, in full:

The big question for Vatican watchers if there's anything else behind this surprise resignation — and, of course, who's going to be the next pope?

Of course, the oddsmakers have already started the betting. Early favorites, from Irish site Paddy Power: Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, currently Prefect of the congregation for Bishops, and Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria. Other favorites include Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, reportedly a friend of U2's Bono, and Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

As the news breaks around the world, many leaders are starting to weigh in. Here's the office of Angela Merkel, the chancellor of the pope's home country, Germany: "The federal government has the greatest possible respect for the Holy Father, for his accomplishments, for his life-long work for the Catholic Church." Here's Australia's former prime minister:

And of course, the news comes right on the heels of a big escalation of the child sex abuse scandal in the Los Angeles archdiocese, where the former archbishop, Cardinal Roger Mahony, was stripped of his administrative duties after court documents showed he covered up cases of sex abuse and nearly depleted the archdiocese's cemetery-upkeep fund in payments to victims. The continuing fallout from decades of child sex abuse will also be a part of Pope Benedict's complicated legacy.

So, what else has caused popes to step aside instead of dying in office? Alex Fenton-Thomas writes, via The Guardian:

The last word goes to Luke Coppen, editor of the British newspaper The Catholic Herald, who tells Britain's The Telegraph: "Pope Benedict's pontificate has been full of surprises. This is the biggest one of all."