Officials. Reading a statement in latin saying that hell resign effective february 28th at 8 00 p. M. Local time. He said in the last few months, that his mind and body, have quote, deteriorated. Im shocked and startled as of all of you. Reporter this morning, reaction from new yorks cardinal dolan. Theres a somberness there. Theres a sadness there. Reporter benedict, whos 85 years old, has been pope since april 2005 who took over for the immensely popular Pope John Paul ii. His papacy has been marked by controversy. The pope criticized for how he handled the situation in his prior jobs when he was archbishop in germany and later a top vatican official. On a visit to america in 2008, he became the first pope to meet with the victims themselves. On a lighter note, benedict has become known as his personal idiosyncracies like his bright red shoes. Hes been using a moveable platform to carry him down the aisle of st. Peters basilica. This morning after he made his announcement, he was helped down from his chair. While this is a surprise the pope has said in the past that he reserved the right to resign if he felt too old to perform his duties. Whats next . He still hopes to serve the church through a life dedicated to prayer. Elizabeth, back to you. Greg, good morning to you. Lot of people really surprised by the announcement this morning. Some cardinals in the audience didnt understand what Pope Benedict was saying . Thats also true. One of those occasions in rome the pope actuallies gives his speech in latin. I was watching on tv. I wasnt there in the crowd. I was watching on tv and you could tell some of the cardinals didnt get the latin and really such a serious thing. Obviously, they learned soon afterwards from their brother cardinals that it certainly was a momentous decision. The pope is calm and peaceful. I think we have seen him as somebody whos serene. What about the timing of this . On the eve of Ash Wednesday . Hes stepping down in the middle of lent, why in the middle of lent would he step down . In all likelihood, unless we had a protracted conclave, you would have a new pope in time for easter. Precisely because of that, holy week is certainly a very demanding one on the time of the pope. Its a very, very demanding schedule. Part of the reason why the pope has resigned. Both physically and also intellect chully, you have to give your attention so much. Its been 600 years since we have had a pope resign, how is this process going to work . Are you confident that well have a pope selected by holy week, easter, march 31st . My guess there would be a pope give wan the average conclave has taken. How long they have taken in the recent conclaves. The average would certainly be in favor well before easter. What happens, basically the same thing as last time, the conclave, the one difference, of course, is the pope hasnt died. Nine days of mourning first. That was the first that had happened officially in the schedule. Nine days of mourning that wont happen for the deceased pope. The day after Pope Benedict steps down. Thank you so much, greg, for joining us. A shocker out of the vatican this morning. Pope benedict announcing that hell resign. Reporter lets talk more about the conclave to elect a new pope. And david wright joins us now. Reporter papal conclave are a rare occurrence. Even rarer than a blue moon. A process thats rich in tradition and catholic ritual. Behind locked doors, the conclave meets in the sistine chapel, the cardinals totally cut off from the outside world. No telephones. No tvs, newspapers nor computers. The ballots and procedures are secret. Once the election commences they eat and sleep in the santa marta room. Besides the cardinals only 70 other people are allowed access. Who can vote . Under rules established by Pope John Paul, only cardinals under the age of 80. Will the retiring benedict be able to vote . Hes 85. Who can be elected pope . Any catholic male whos not married is eligible. For more than 1,000 years its almost always been a cardinal. The ballot is secret. A writein vote. Initially twothirds majority required. The cardinals are required to carry their ballots to the altar of the sistine chapel. The results are announced by smoke signals. In the old days ballots were burnt with wet straw to produce black smoke. If theres a pope, white smoke. The white smoke accompanied by bells. And soon, a verbal announce nmt latin, we have a pope. One of the more interesting bit of trivia is that theyll have on hand three different casts for the newly elected pope. Small, medium, large. The first glimmer of who that next pope will be, well see when he steps out on to that balcony. George . Were joined on the phone by cardinal wuehrl, thank you for joining us. Your first thoughts upon hearing this news. It was an enormous surprise. When i got a call this morning, confirming that he had made this announcement, it was such a huge surprise. However, when was considers his age and the huge responsibilities and the weight of that office, i suspect that we should be prepared for these surprises. You talked about the weight of the office, how would you assess his papacy . Think hes tried to focus the whole Catholic Church on the mission of preaching the gospel. Hes shepherd of this whole global flock. It has to be an amazing responsibility. But i believe his papacy will be characterized by the effort to renew the preaching of the gospel in the church. That was clearly his mission, of course, he also had to deal with all of the fallout from the Sexual Abuse Scandal around the globe, how will he be remembered for that . The problems that in the church are great, great sorrow for everyone involved. Hes called the whole church to be more pastorally attentive to all people. Attentive to everyone who has a need. Youll be of course going to rome and be a part of the conclave choosing the next pope, what do you believe the church needs right now. I think well probably be looking for two things. The fact that shes anchored in this tradition that goes all of the way back to the apostles, someone who will continue to keep a focus on the Spiritual Mission on on the church. You talked about the churchs global reach, time for a pope that doesnt come from europe . I dont see any limits to the selection of the next pope. He can come from almost anywhere on this planet. And i wouldnt be surprised if that were the case. Cardinal wuerl, thank you for your time and your thoughts. Thank you very much, god bless you. Lets bring in Cokie Roberts in washington, d. C. , her po mother sefshdz as the United States am bar doz dor. Once they understood that Pope Benedict was saying, the jockeying for power and prominence began. Im sure thats true, elizabeth. This is supposed to be a decision decided by the holy spirit, the holy spirit has a good deal of politics. You know, i guess the cardinals will be brushing up their latin so they dont have any more surprises like this. The fact that theres no Obvious Success so is going to be something they have to grapple with. When john paul died, we knew that Joseph Ratzinger who became Pope Benedict xvi, he was a very powerful man in the vatican the popes enforcer in some ways. We all knew his name. We dont really know the names of any of these people now. But, so its going to be a much more diverse, i think, selection process. What are the chances that well see a pope from Central America or africa . It will tough to do that. Majority of the catholics are in the southern hemisphere. Growing church in africa and latin america. It would make a lot of sense to do that. I think it would be pretty hard to wrestle the power away from europe especially the italians. All right, it will be a really interesting couple of weeks. Cokie, thank you so much. Elizabeth thanks. Now to the other big headlines. The extreme weather slamming the country. Tornadoes tearing across the country. Sam is tracking it all. Two blizzards. A real round of severe storms. Well start with the pictures out of minnesota. It was the sunday blizzard. Not the friday one. The one in the middle of country that put anywhere from 16 inches to 18 inches on the ground. About 15 tornadoes reported in that zone. One of them in hattiesburg. Dangerously close to a university. Our Steve Osunsami is there in hattiesburg this morning. Reporter good morning, sam. One Tornado Warning after another. They just kept coming. This Historic Building at the university of southern mississippi has stood here for more than 100 years. It was destroyed in seconds. Luckily, no one was inside. Families in South Central mississippi were in the middle of sundays supper. When, all of a sudden, the sky went dark. Then came the sound of terror. A giant tornado screaming through town. I have never heard it like that. Its hugely loud. Reporter this was the view from a camera right in the tornados path. Immediate destruction. Stuff falling out of the sky. Reporter by the time the tornado hit hattiesburg, residents who recorded these amazing videos, said, it looked a mile wide. That is a tornado. Reporter lighting up the sky are blown transformers, broken homes, and crumpled cars. Wow, dude reporter this morning, Authorities Say at least ten tornadoes struck mississippi, and another five tore through parts of alabama, tearing down buildings and sending nearly a dozen people to area hospitals. Here is whats left of one familys home. The cars are still parked in what used to be the garage. The rest of the home was sliced in half. Somehow they survived. This isnt minor damage. This is significant damage. Thousands without power right now. Reporter overnight, search and rescue teams went looking through the debris, making sure no one was still trapped. The University Says its fortunate that most of the students here were away on holiday. There is still a state of emergency here. Telling any student not already on campus, they shouldnt come back until further notice. At least 63 injuries. This picture comes from the friday blizzard which started the entire weekend. In that boston area, 2, 3 feet of snow. This morning, well take you through that. Okay, thank you, sam. A shooting inside a courthouse in wilmington, delaware a man opened fire, killing his estranged wife inside the new castle courthouse. A Security Officer is among those who were wounded. No word yet on his condition. More details for you this morning as they come available. New information about a Carnival Cruise ship stranded in the gulf of mexico this morning. The cruise liner is floating helplessly some 500 miles from galveston. A fire in the engine room knocked out power leaving more a tugboat will tow the ship back to shore. Meantime, abcs matt gutman has this story. As we head back to work, commuters facing a massive price spike at gas stations. Prices rising another 25 cents per gallon. The National Average stands at 3. 59. But prices are well over 4 in states in california because of Higher Oil Prices and pipeline maintenance. And finally, the National Anthem that went oh, so horribly wrong at one Minor League Hockey game. Take a look. Thats the fellow that handles the mascot for the bakersfield condors. The bird takes things into his own hand. First, hes looking for a penalty box. The announcers one of them saying, the greatest thing i have ever seen. The best part about it was, those big hockey players took to the ice. The bird benched himself. Took himself back to the locker room. Thats terrific. The big, burly hockey players. All of the padding. That has a 12foot wingspan. Im getting out of the way, too. What am i doing here . Well start out west. Look at l. A. , 44. Fresno, 36. These numbers do come up. You have plenty of 60s. By the end of the week, maybe l. A. Gets to 60 degrees. Only toward like middle oregon, you got to get north of portland into the seattle area, some scattered showers and that may not be a pattern that breaks for you. Well keep a couple of days of showers for you. Low pressure takes care of everybody else. From reno into san diego. Sprinkles in the northwest. If youre flying east, things are much better in boston and new yorkarea airports are getting back to together. Another couple of rounds of snow coming for the week through the country. Not for you, west coast. Thats the weather for the nation. Each one of those selected cities brought to yo by nutella. 12k3w4r sam, thank you. And coming up on gma, more breaking News Coverage of Pope Benedicts surprise resignation. And well have the latest on the massive manhunt for the rogue excop on the run. In california. And what a night at the grammys. So much fun. Both lit wrally and figuratively. Come on back for it. Sting, bruno mars, we have it all. Well, planning, of course. And we got a lot of good advice. A few years ago, your mom and i put some money into a pacific life fixed annuity. It guarantees us an income for the rest of our lives, whether Social Security is all there or not. Hey, hey [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] to learn more about a guaranteed Lifetime Income from pacific life, visit pacificlife. Com. So ditch the brown bag for something better. Like our bacon ranch quesadillas or big mouth burger bites, served with soup or salad, and fries. Starting at just 6 bucks, at chilis. These heads belong to those who cant put their lives, jobs and loved ones on hold because of a migraine. So when a migraine starts, they grab excedrin migraine. They know excedrin provides fast pain relief. 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Bay area catholics are as stunned as everyone else when they learned that Pope Benedict is resigning at the end of the month. The 85yearold announced the decision during a meeting of cardinals five hours ago. He is citing health reasons. A spokesman for the San Francisco archdiocese says he will be praying for the pope and the successor. A bay area person says the timing is difficult with lent going in two difficulties on Ash Wednesday. Sue is following the commute. We have a major problem to report to you. Eastbound 80 in fairfield at north texas a motorcycle down, with injuries involved and c. H. P. On route. Other than that, it is light but for the bay bridge toll plaza, and of course metering lights are on but no major stalls or accidents. It is sluggish on the upper deck and san mateo bridge is by difficult, but slowing nicely to foster city. Our meteorologist, mike and now a picture from east bay hills looking to San Francisco, everyone watching the sunshine but the temperatures are cool. Good morning, we are in the midtoupper 30s and 41 in antioch and 50 at half moon bay. Temperatures today are the same if not you are looking live at st. Peters square in rome. Of course, a huge headline from there this morning. Pope benedict xvi, in an historic move, will resign on february 28th. No pope has stepped down in almost 600 years. The pope saying, in latin, his advanced age and diminishing strength were the reasons for his resignation. Now sets the stage for a new conclave and a new pope in place likely before easter. Well talk to the Vatican Communications director just ahead. There had been a lot of speculation about whether he was considering it. We knew that Pope John Paul ii had thought about twice resigning before he died. But this has not happened in hundreds and hundreds of years. This sets off a mad dash to elect a new pope on the eve of Ash Wednesday and the 40 days leading up to easter. Well have the latest on that massive manhunt for expolice officer christopher dorner. Theres now a 1 million reward for his arrest. This has the entire l. A. Valley up in arms. Well switch gears a bit. What a night at the grammys. Carrie underwood wowing the audience and apparently burning up on that what a dress. That actually is. A remarkable dress. Lots to get to. Your grammy highlights. Its a big monarch butterfly. But were going to start this half hour with the latest on that frantic manhunt for exlos Angeles Police officer christopher dorner. Police are searching for the rogue officer. As we told you there is now a 1 million reward for his arrest. Pierre thomas is in los angeles where he is tracking the latest on this breaking case. Good morning to you, pierre. Reporter good morning, elizabeth. Police are pleading for the publics help. The blunt assessment, if dorner is not caught and caught soon, hell try to kill again. Help us to find dorner. Before hes able to kill again. Reporter an intense, urgent press conference. The mayor and Police Offering a 1 million reward. Unprecedented for a local l. A. Fugitive. We will not tolerate this reign of terror. Reporter th