Pope Benedict's Resignation 'Shocking News'

The news this morning that Pope Benedict XVI was resigning sent shockwaves throughout Peachtree Corners and the world.

The pope announced today 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.

A staff member at the Peachtree Corners' Mary Our Queen Catholic Church, said, "We were shocked to hear the news," but said the church would allow Archdiocese to issue a statement in behalf of the metro-Atlanta churches.

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.

Were you shocked also to hear of the pope's resignation?