“I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonisations,  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 recognise 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.”

Since assuming the top job in the Catholic Church, ex-Hitler Youth John Ratzinger aka Pope Benedicthe has pursued a staunchly anti-gay doctrine.

In 2012, the Pope warned that introducing equal marriage around the world would risk the future of humanity itself.

At the end of the year, in his message for World Day of Peace 2013, he said same-sex marriage is unnatural and poses a threat to “justice and peace”.

Days before he was pictured giving a blessing to Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, who has promised to pass the country’s notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

In an end-of year address in 2008, the Pope said that the existence of gay people threatened humanity as much as the destruction of the rainforests does and that “blurring” genders through acceptance of transgender people would kill off the human race.

Ratzinger has named 67 of the 120 cardinals who will vote for his successor, pretty much ensuring that his regressive hateful legacy will continue. Also, by resigning he ensures that he can actively lobby for who will succeed him.