The Pope resigns, or rather abdicates (in the history of the Vatican it had happened only three times: Celestine V, told by Dante in Hell, Clement I and Gregory XII) and inevitably the shocking news travels around the world in a few fractions second. In particular on the web, where the text of the speech delivered personally by Benedict XVI in Latin during the consistory for the canonization of the martyrs of Otranto.
"I no longer have the strength to carry out my mandate", the gist of the message of a now 85-year-old Joseph Ratzinger which came like a bolt from the blue to millions of faithful all over the world and which could not leave the press and the political world indifferent. One of the most seraphic is the French president François Hollande, who is one of the first leaders to comment on the news with a tone of "when one Pope dies another popes": "I have no particular comments to make - Hollande told Le Figaro -: it is a respectable decision and a new Pontiff will now be appointed”. Also in France, the Le Monde website is incredibly silent on the matter, which even opens with the doping trial underway in Spain against the doctor Fuentes.
The British are also laconic The Guardian, who opts to recall his own comment at the time of Joseph Ratzinger's appointment as head of the Church, in 2005: "The most conservative choice but at the same time more divisive". On the other hand, the newspaper, according to the English tradition, indulges itself in the prediction of the successor: the indicated favorite is the Ghanaian cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, who would be the first African Pope in history. In fact, the bookmakers across the Channel were immediately unleashed on the succession of Benedict XVI, who again according to reports from the Guardian pay Turkson at 5/2, ahead of the Canadian Marc Ouellet (3/1), the Nigerian Francis Arinze (4/1) , and to the Italian Angelo Scola (6/1). Further away are Cardinals Bertone and Bagnasco (both at 14/1). Again in England, the Telegraph headlines recalling that he is the first pope to abdicate for six centuries now.
A very “Italian” day for the online edition of Wall Street Journal, which in the morning dedicated the opening to an extensive article on Beppe Grillo, only to then deal with – in a very dry way to tell the truth – the resignation of Pope Ratzinger. The New York Times instead he retraces the papal mandate in a rather controversial way, recalling when, already in 2010, "many voices were raised to ask for his resignation after the story of clerical abuses". The US newspaper also reports Benedict's harsh words on Mohammed and the Islamic religion, accused of having fueled the concept of "holy war". Negative comment also that of the French Libération, which recalls the last Pontiff as "pessimistic and intransigent", and "not at all loved outside the conservative circle of the Catholic Church."
"El Papa renuncia" is instead the title of the Spanish El Pais, who recalls that the conclave to elect his successor will be held immediately in March. But the most emotionally involved reactions could only come from Germany, the country of origin of the resigning Pope. “The German government reacts with emotion and shock,” said spokesman Steffen Seibert, who added: "The German government has the utmost respect for the Holy Father, for what he did, for the contribution he made to the Catholic Church throughout his life". A personal tribute from Chancellor Angela Merkel is also expected in the afternoon.
