ABC News Radio and WPRO Newsroom

(ROME) -- ABC News Radio reports that Pope Benedict XVI will resign at the end of the month, the pontiff announced in Latin during a consistory in Rome on Monday.

According to the official Vatican translation, Benedict, 85, said he will be stepping down from his post on Feb. 28 due to his advanced age and deteriorating strength.

The story is developing.

Locally, the Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, this morning shared the following statement relative to the resignation announcement of Pope Benedict XVI.

“I was stunned by the news that our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI will resign his office at the end of the month. He is a man of great wisdom and holiness and he has given everything – his heart and mind, his soul and strength – to the difficult task of leading the Church.

Our Holy Father’s resignation is, I believe, an act of great humility for he understands that the needs of the Church are greater than his own; that ultimately the well-being of the Church is in God’s hands, not the Pope’s.

I will pray in gratitude for Pope Benedict’s service and also that our Holy Father will now enjoy a time of rest and prayer that he so richly deserves.  May God bless Pope Benedict!”