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 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. 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