THE FIRST PAPAL RESIGNATION SINCE 1294

News is just out that  the incumbent Pope, Benedict XVI, intends to resign at the end of this month.
There had been some talk about this over the past  months, but always  denied by Vatican sources.
Papal resignations have been very few in the institution's centuries long history.
Pope Benedict  IX resigned in 1045 but became Pope again two years later after the resignation of his successor, Clement II who had actually forced Benedict out of the Papacy.
The most important resignation, which was at the beginning of a long crisis in Papal history, was that of Celestine V, in 1294.
There have been no Papal resignations since.