PAPA BENEDICT XV1 ATANGAZA KUJIUZULU FEBRUARY 28

Kiongozi wa kanisa katoliki duniani Papa BENEDICT XVI anatarajia kujiuzulu madaraka hayo February 28 mwaka huu kwa mujibu wa ripoti kutoka Vatican. Msemaji wa Papa Benedict Father Federico Lombardi pia ameiambia CNN kuhusiana na hatua hiyo ya kushtukiza.

Taarifa za kustaafu kwake mwishoni mwa mwezi huu hazikuwa zinategemewa. Anajiuzulu kutokana na matatizo ya kiafya yanayomfanya asiwe na uwezo tena wa kuliongoza kanisa hilo lenye waumini wengi duniani.

“I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age… are no longer suited to [being Pope]” BBC imenukuu maneno yake.

Papa Benedict mwenye umri wa miaka 85 amekuwa kiongozi wa kanisa katoliki tangu April 2005 alipochukua nafasi ya Pope John Paul II.

Vatican imesema kujiuzulu kwa Papa Benedict XVI kunamaanisha kuwa nafasi hiyo itabaki wazi mpaka mrithi wake atakapochaguliwa na kwamba kipindi cha kujiuzulu kwake na uchaguzi wa mrithi huyo kitakuwa kifupi iwezakanavyo.

Mwaka 2010, papa huyo wa 265 alisema hatosita kujiuzulu kuwa kiongozi wa kwanza kufanya hivyo katika kipindi cha zaidi ya miaka 700 kama akijisikia kuwa hana uwezo kimwili, kisaikolojia na kiroho kuliongoza kanisa katoliki.

Mara ya mwisho papa kujiuzulu ilikuwa mwaka 1415 ambapo Papa Gregory XII alitangaza kujiuzulu na makardinali kukubali ombi lake.

Kwa sasa tangu habari hiyo ijulikane mitandao ya Kijamii hususan Twitter imetawaliwa na habari hiyo.

Haya ni maelezo ya Papa ya uamuzi wake huo wa kujiuzulu aliyoyatoa kwa kilatin mbele ya baraza la kanisa hilo.

“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.”