Pope Benedict XVI is not suffering from any specific disease that forced him to resign, his spokesman said Tuesday, a day after the news that he was stepping down shocked the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics. The pontiff is resigning because he does not feel he has the strength to continue as the church's leader, the Rev. Federico Lombardi said, adding that it was a "spiritual" decision. Lombardi emphasized that Benedict remains pope until February 28, when his resignation takes effect. He dismissed reports in an Italian newspaper that the pope's decision was linked to a medical intervention to replace the battery in his pacemaker, saying that had been a routine procedure. Benedict has had the pacemaker since he was a cardinal, he added.
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Pope's brother says he does not expect new pope to come from outside Europe
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No date is yet set for the cardinals to meet to elect a successor, the papal spokesman says
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The pope is not suffering from any specific disease that forced him to resign, he says
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Credit card payments are accepted again in Vatican City, the spokesman says
@placeholder's decision has inevitably prompted frenzied speculation over who might assume the papacy in his place.