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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – White Plains residents wished Pope Benedict XVI well after he announced Monday he would step down as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.
Pope Benedict, 85, cited infirmity and his advanced age and said he could no longer perform his duties, which Jen Arnold sympathized with on The White Plains Daily Voice Facebook page.
“His health has been going downward noticeably lately. His position as Pope is very demanding,” she wrote. “God bless and wish him well.”
John Flynn also commented on the Pope’s decision to resign.
“I admire that he was not on a power trip,” he wrote on The White Plains Daily Voice Facebook page. “He recognized that it was time to step down. God bless.”
Benedict was elected Pope by his fellow cardinals in 2005 after the death Pope John Paul II. His resignation is the first in 598 years, according to The New York Times.
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