And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Suarez the world witnessed something today it had not seen since the 15th century a sitting pope, benedict xvi, announced he is giving up the papacy. The news reverberated around the globe and stunned many of the worlds 1. 2 billion catholics. It was a big surprise because this doesnt happen all the time. And my first reaction was to pray and to call my friends, texted my friends and asked even my noncatholic and nonbelieving friends to keep us in their thoughts and in their prayers. I had never heard anything like this in my life. The pope has to be there until he dies. And he is resigning . Popes cant resign. This hasnt happened in 600 years. A pope cant resign. This news isnt right. Suarez a pope abdicated in 1294 but the last pontiff to do so was gregory 12th in 1415. Pope benedicts decision at age 85 came in an announcement made in latin during a meeting of cardinals at the vatican. Dear brothers, i have called you not only for the three can onizations 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 papal ministry. Suarez underscoring that point benedicts brother said today the popes doctors recently advised him not to take any more transatlantic trips. In a 2010 interview, benedict said a pope could step down if he felt unable physically to carry on. He had visibly slowed in the last few years. The last one who made the pope last week and i said that he was tired an tire. Suarez few outside his inner most circle saw it coming. And the announcement instantly sparked speculation about whether there was something more to the decision. Its unique in terms of the papacy. So it could be deeper. Than what weve been told at the moment. I can only accept his resignation if he were ill and could no longer carry out his post but i cant accept any other reason. No whatsoever. Suarez a vatican spokesman insisted the pope had no specific medical problem and that he came to this decision on his own without any outside pressure. Great freedom and clarity. We admire his totally freedom in renouncing to his people. Suarez benedicts actions stood in particular contrast to that of Pope John Paul ii, his immediate predecessor, who served 27 years, the second longest of any pope. During that tenure, john paul was shot by a wouldbe assassin and later contracted parkinsons disease. In his last years he struggled to walk, speak, and even listen until his death in 2005. Days later, white smoke arose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel to signal Cardinal Joseph ratzinger election. He was at 78 the oldest pope elected in nearly 300 years. The future benedict xvi was born in germany in 1927, an archbishop of munich and then cardinal. For nearly three decades he was one of Pope John Pauls most trusted aides enforcing conservative doctrine. As pope he warned against growing secularism in the west. It was not always a popular stance in europe and north america as evidenced today. The next pope we need somebody who will modernize the church somewhat and move with the times so that they dont lose their audience and all the younger people. Hopefully the next pope will be eventually a little bit better and more inclusive than this one was. Suarez but benedict was undeterred by such views. He suggested as much in his 1996 book salt of the earth in which he wrote maybe were facing a new and different kind of epoch in the churchs history where christianity will be characterized more by the mustard seed where it will exist in small seemingly insignificant groups that nonetheless live in intensive struggle against evil. To that end, the pontiff focused on promoting Roman Catholic growth in latin america and africa. He also made use of twitter and other social media to reach new and younger audiences worldwide. And he sought to reach out across faiths but with decidedly mixed results. In 2011 he formally announced the jewish people should not be condemned for the death of jesus but he angered many jews by lifting the excommunication of a conservative british bishop who denied the holocaust. In 2006 benedict quoted a byzantine emperor speaking on the prophet mohammed. Show me just what mohammed brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached. Suarez outraged muslims burned the pope in effigy. He later visited the blue mosque in istanbul turkey to pray with the grand imam in a bid to restore calm. A fire he could not extinguish was the ongoing scandal involving sexual abuse of children by priests in country after country. Two years ago, letters emerged showing that as cardinal in charge of handling the growing crisis, benedict resisted removing priests accused of being child molesters. And last fall the popes former butler was convicted of leaking personal documents, some pointed to alleged mismanagement at vatican lending institutions. Now the Roman Catholic world awaits a successor to chart the direction of the church and address lingering scandals. Pope benedict officially steps down february 28. Then the college of cardinals will meet in a papal conclave held in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope. By vatican law, all cardinals under 80 at the time of voting are allowed to cast a ballot. 118 now meet that standard. Without doubt, this is an historic moment. Right now 1. 2 billion catholics the world over are holding their breath. Suarez benedict himself will have no official role in choosing his own successor, but 67, more than half the votinghe will vibl cardinals, were appointed by him including the archbishop of washington Cardinal Donald whirl. We will be looking for someone who is a very articulate voice in that continuity. But i think we also will be looking for someone who will carry on the spiritual traditions that Pope Benedict has so focused on. Suarez more than half the current cardinals come from europe but more than half the worlds catholics now live in africa and latin america. Already theres speculation the next pontiff may be the first noneuropean ever. Woodruff for more on benedicts resignation, his less an and the future of the church, were joined by monsignor Rick Hilgartner of the u. S. Conference of catholic bishops. Hes the executive director of the secretariat of divine worship. Sister christine schenk, a catholic nun and executive director of future church, which calls for a more progressive church. And from rome, john allen of cnn. He covers the vatican for the network and for the National Catholic reporter. We thank you all three for being with us. John allen, im going to stay with you. How much of a surprise was this . Judy, i think this was a near total shock. Just to tell you how crazy it was, i was actually scheduled to have lunch with a senior vatican official, a guy who works just down the hall from the papal apartment. As of early this morning even he didnt know it was coming. As your setup piece indicated the shock isnt the content of the decision benedict had hinted fairly openly that he was receptive to the idea of a pope resigning, that actually under some circumstances a pope would have an obligation to resign if hes not able to continue to perform his duties. But certainly the timing of it, i think, fell out of a clear blew sky just like the rain were experiencing in rome here tonight. Woodruff monsignor hilgartner, what about the timing of this . What does it say that he made this decision especially in contrast to what his predecessor Pope John Paul had been through. Pope benedict as one of Pope John Pauls closest advisors would have seen clearly the challenges of Pope John Pauls suffering. And the way that perhaps the church might have struggled around him because of his own limitations. I think its been visible to see the popes weakness has been more and more evident when you see him at mass, at christmas masses this past christmas and some of the other major events, he sounded weaker and weaker. Hes moving more and more frailly. I think its a real sign of courage that he recognizes that the job is bigger than he is. As for the timing, this was all his own discernment and his own heart. As john allen just said, no one saw this coming. Woodruff Sister Christine, what about you . How did you read this given how unprecedented it is . Well, i think it is very unprecedented. I agree with the professor. I think that. I dont know how he could have lived through the waning days of Pope John Paul iis papacy and not been aware of how difficult it would be to continue vatican business. So we give Pope Benedict a lot of credit for the courage of stepping down. The other piece i think that is, i dont know maybe a little rosecolored glasses but somewhat hopeful is that for the first time at least in recent history, a pope has basically said the office is more important than the person of the papacy. And so it sort of moving a bit away from the monarch cal model. Its not something that catholics are used to. But i do think it is a step in the right direction and could bode well for the future. Woodruff john allen, what about that . This notion that perhaps its a statement that the office is more important than the person . Well, i think benedict, to some extent in contrast to john paul ii who was such a swashbuckling charismatic figure, it was sometimes difficult to separate the office from the man. I think benedict has always been a kind of more humbler and lowerkey figure. I mean, you can see that in several small touches along the way. His preference, for example, for celebrating his public masses inside st. Peters basilica rather than out in the square, so the focus was more on the worship space and the event rather than on him personally. His willingness to renounce some of the traditional symbols and titles of his office and so on. So i think there is something there. Though at the end of the day, i also think theres a danger in trying to read too much into the faith value meaning of this. I think this is one case in which for the most part we ought to take the pope at his word. His calculation was with a cleareyed awareness of the enormity of responsibility of serving as the spiritual leader of this 1. 2 billion Strong Church that given his age and increasing limitations was no longer up to the task. He felt it was time to step aside and let someone else take over. For the most part that was in fact the basis of the decision. Woodruff monsignor hilgartner, there will be a lot of discussion about what his legacy will be. As we begin to look at it tonight, what stands out to you . I among all the things that the pope gets involved in politically because the pope is a world leader because the vatican is a country, his immense embracing of his role as pastor. When we look at his writings since becoming pope, there was a real shift. As a theologian as a teacher this years earlier as joseph ratzinger, he wrote as a theologian but as pope his three major writings were not doctrinal sweeping changes but he was writing about faith, about hope and about charity. These basic things. The real message of his preaching has always been to invite people to a personal relationship with jesus in the most basic way. And from day one of his pontificate thats really struck me that he really preached like a pastor. I remember his first christmas homily as pope, he talked about the analogy of giving gifts and receiving gifts and recognizing the gift that we receive from jesus. It sounded unlike anything we had heard from popes who tend to speak very academically and philosophically. Woodruff Sister Christine, how do you see his legacy . What is the mark that he leaves on the Catholic Church . I apologize. I appreciate the monsignors statements. And i agree. I think this has been a very pastoral theologically astute beautiful beautiful theo logical writing, but my frankly big difficulty here is given our foundations with addressing the worldwide priest shortage, i just remember after 2005 he gave this beautiful invitation on the centrality of the mass to catholic worship. It was clear how much it meant to him and how important it was. But what i have problems with is that a good 80 of the catholics around the world have no access to the mass whatsoever because there arent enough priests. So my take on it is, yes, hes a great theologian but we have not addressed some of the most sweeping concerns in the Catholic Church today. That has to do with the availability of priests to continue our legacy. From that point of view, his failure to recognize the need to expand order nation beyond the male sell bait priesthood is a very. I think its leading to a big crisis institutionally. Up only have to look at the United States with all the large numbers of parishes closing and clustering. In the next six years according to the center for applied research, well have only 13,500 priests to serve our 17,000 parishes. In brazil over 80 of all sunday worship is led by lay people because there arent enough priests. In fact, those numbers. Were losing catholics in brazil. The latest numbers brazil used to be 100 catholic. Now its been 50 and 70 . Theo logically is one thing. Running the church is another thing. I think we need some help in the latter. Woodruff in addition to that, john allen, of course, we cant discuss his legacy without the story of what happened with child sexual abuse, how he and others in the church dealt with that under his leadership. Thats right. I mean, judy, of course, a legacy is always to some extent in the eye of the beholder. Certainly those most wounded by the child sex abuse scandals in the church, the victims, their families, others who have been caught up in this really this plague that has gripped catholicism for the last decade or so, they will not be able to remember benedict xvi without thinking of that. His defenders will tell you that he made enormous strides in the effort to make the Catholic Church a safe environment for children. Remember the first pope to meet with victims of sex abuse which he did for the first time in the United States in april 2008 and did six times total over the course of his papacy, the first pope to apologize directly for the crisis to institute zero tolerance as the official policy of the church. Critics will say much of that was too little too late. Too much was left undone but that of course is not the only issue that people will remember about this pope. Many liberals in the Catholic Church, for example, would praise him on some fronts but suggest overall his leadership rolled back the clock on the reforming spirit of the Second Vatican Council in the mid 1960s. Many women particularly religious women in the United States, nuns, will remember the crackdowns on american nuns that unfolded on his watch. While his admirers, i submit, will probably remember him as one of the great teaching popes of modern times perhaps of all time who for almost eight years led a sort of global graduate seminar about the relationship between reason and faith and the place of religion in a secular world. I think the truth, judy, is all of of those things have validity. All of them add up to the full picture of a pope who had his strengths and his weaknesses. I think will undoubtedly be remembered for both. Woodruff monsignor hilgartner all of that plays into the question of what role will he play in the selection of his successor . He wont have a vote but he selected more than half of the cardinals who will be doing the picking. He has selected more than half. There was a question as to whether or not he would participate. And the holy sea clarified this morning in the middle of all the other news that he would not participate. But his influence is clear. I think even his statement this morning about recognizing that there are major things that the church needs to address and do that he doesnt feel that he has the stamina to be able to accomplish really sets the stage for the cardinals when they gather to begin to look at and discuss and reflect on what those issues are. As they then move into the conclave to make that decision and prayerfully select the next pope. Woodruff we are just beginning to look at the legacy of this pope. Pope benedict. We thank you all three for joining us to begin to consider it. Monsignor hilgartner, Sister Christine schenck, we thank you. And john allen of cnn and National Catholic reporter, thank you. Suarez on our website you can suarez on our web site, you can read the popes full resignation statement, take a look at modern papal reigns, and see a slide show of moments from benedicts papacy. And still to come on the newshour, the Los Angeles Police department on alert; historically low water levels in the great lakes; to like or not to like on facebook; and novelist brad meltzer on president ial assassins. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan the northeastern u. S. Spent much of this monday still digging out from fridays blizzard, and utility crews kept working to restore power to some 150,000 customers. In some places, the snow was three feet deep and the work of snowblowing and shoveling was still going on, three days after the storm hit. Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick was in scituate today, and said most major highways were clear of snow. Over the last day crews have been out on all of the roads really trying to get down to the secondary roads. To make sure that they are passable and safe so the school can resume and people can come and go through their routines. Sreenivasan many Public Schools throughout the region remained closed out of safety concerns. Overall, 15 deaths were blamed on the storm. Wild weather was also to blame for damage across mississippi on sunday, this time including a torna