Pope Benedict to Resign Febr 28 – Spokesman Confirms

A file photo dated 07 April 2012 shows Pope Benedict XVI holding a candle as he celebrates the Easter Vigil mass in St. Peter`s Basilica, at the Vatican. EPA/BGNES

Pope Benedict will resign on February 28, his spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told CNN Monday.

Lombardi did not give a reason for the resignation.

Benedict, the 265th pope, is the sixth German to serve as pope and the first since the 11th century.

He has led church after the third-longest papacy in church history and during a time in which the church is declining in his native Europe but expanding in Africa and Latin America.

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