Pope Benedict officially resigns Thursday
Posted Feb 28, 2013 6:05 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI is making history today, becoming the first pontiff to retire in nearly 600 years.
Only a handful of popes have ever done so.
The last was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism, a dispute among competing papal claimants. The most famous resignation was Pope Celestine V in 1294; Dante placed him in hell for it.
Pope Benedict bade farewell to his cardinals at the Vatican Thursday morning, and promised “unconditional reverence and obedience” to his successor.
He also left with a plea for the College of Cardinals to unite and work together “like an orchestra” where “agreement and harmony” can be reached.
The cardinals, who will be voting in March to choose his successor, lined up and kissed his hand in farewell.
According to the Vatican, Pope Benedict will send his last tweet as pope around 5 p.m. Rome time (11 a.m. ET). That’s also about the time he’s set to leave the Vatican by helicopter to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo.
Exactly at 8 p.m. Rome time (2 p.m. ET) — when his resignation takes effect — the doors at Castel Gandolfo will close and the papacy that began on April 19, 2005, will come to an end.
