Fox News
Expand
Browse All Video
Watch Live

You're watching...

Pope Benedict XVI no longer has strength to lead Catholics

Details

  • Description

    Amy Kellogg reports from Rome

  • Duration 3:47
  • Date

Clips

Also in this playlist...

Editor's Picks

Auto-advance: ON

Auto-advance
View All

Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated

-- -- but just another Monday for more than one point two billion Catholics across the globe.

Pope Benedict the sixteenth stunned virtually every one by announcing he will step down at the end of the month.

In the Catholic Church that sets off an elaborate and spiritual effort to fill one of the most prestigious jobs in the world.

Senior foreign affairs correspondent Amy Kellogg begins our coverage from Rome tonight.

Even to many insiders the announcement came as a shock.

Pope Benedict the sixteenth at 85 years of age said today that he no longer has the strength to lead the Roman Catholic Church.

As it needs to be guided and that he will step down on February 28.

His love for the church is such that he has concluded.

And he better not to try to meet its huge -- Without the fool the strength we pray for him we pray for the church.

I just always admired him as a scholar.

As a priest is a holy -- and -- my admiration for him if there's even higher.

Because -- humility.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the oldest man in hundreds of years because you have any had a tough act to follow in the wake of -- global laceration.

Enjoyed by his predecessor Pope John Paul the -- But he rose to the occasion traveling abroad two dozen times.

Including trips to Israel the United States.

And just last September to Lebanon born in Germany in 1927 he was forced to join the Hitler youth in the Nazi army.

But deserted toward the end of the war.

Cardinal Ratzinger was often called God's Rottweiler for his strict adherence to and enforcement -- Catholic doctrine is.

His tenure as Pope Benedict was marked by among other things.

The revelations of sexual abuse scandals in the church initially accused of being slow to act to resolve this problem.

Ultimately -- credit for how he dealt with a crisis.

So she handled it very sensitively and very.

Very forthrightly.

Amid a lot of -- But he's -- -- a lot of matches to try and stamp out the cover -- culture.

And -- -- not -- database with you could consult.

One of his great goals was to try to bring people back to the church at a time of what he considered to be excessive -- nation.

For this team played his skills as a writer but also as a teacher.

It was incredibly effective.

He he sounded just like you know a really good parish catechism teacher in so I think there was a combination of things there though of of great depth.

And at the same time a real simplicity and explaining.

-- explaining some of these concepts while he elicited less emotion in the last pontiff.

Many say Pope Benedict commanded respect for his intellectual -- -- -- Who say that he did in -- give -- much room.

I told his secretary has -- you know Benedict is a gentleman.

And a gentle man.

And he said that was the best description -- ever heard of the holy father.

Brett that -- resignation becomes effective at 8 PM on February 28.

And then the process of electing a new Pope begins.

There will be a conclave of a 118.

Cardinals.

Brett goes to the cardinals who are under the age of eighty that is a requirement.

Lots of speculation as you know have.

As to who it might be will there finally be an African -- Will there be a Latin American Pope a North American Pope.

Will it come back to Italy.

All of that of course we'll be talked about very much in the coming weeks.

But -- the Vatican is hoping most of all in this we know is that the new Pope will be ready to to -- the Easter mass.

On that Sunday.

Back to you breast.

Load More