Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision
of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come
to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine
ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with
words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and
shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim
the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me
to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this
reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of
Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from
28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the
new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely
for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now,
let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother
Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With
regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to
prayer.
From the Vatican, 10 February 2013
BENEDICTUS PP XVI