Anglicans, Protestants hail pope’s ‘courage’ in deciding to retire

One week after Justin Welby was confirmed as the next archbishop of Canterbury, a frail Pope Benedict XVI surprised the Christian world February 11 by announcing that he would step down by the end of the month.

Welby praised Benedict, 85, as one who held the papal office since 2005 with insight and courage as “a messenger of hope at a time when Christian faith is being called into question.”

Both Welby, 57, who succeeds Rowan Williams, and David Richardson, Canterbury’s representative to the Vatican, pointed to the pope’s cordiality and penchant for theological dialogue. Benedict, for instance, in 2010 was the first-ever pontiff to visit Lambeth Palace.