Surprise and Wonder in Atlanta as Pope Benedict XVI Resigns

Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday (February 11) that he is resigning, effective Feb. 28.

Archdiocese of Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. today to address questions and concerns. Local churches, including Snellville's St. Oliver Plunkett, are not authorized to comment on the situation. 

"It’s very new," said Meaghan Schroeder, assistant communications director for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. "Everyone's just trying to digest it all."

According to CNN.com and other media outlets, it's the first time a pope has resigned in almost 600 years.

The pope's resignation letter reads in part:

"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... 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 bark 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..."

Pope Benedict XVI was born in 1927, in Bavaria, as Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, and is the 265th pope. The last pope to resign was Gregory XII, in 1415. 

The closest Catholic church to Suwanee is St. Monica in Duluth.

--How do you feel about the pope's resignation? If you are Catholic, what impact will this have on your life?