Pope Benedict XVI resigns due to age and declining health
feature, World 04:09
The move, announced without warning, will take place on 28 February and leave the papacy vacant until a successor is chosen.
A Vatican spokesman said Benedict's aides were "incredulous" when he told them he would step down because he was too weak to fulfil his duties.
He summoned a meeting of cardinals to tell them of "a decision of great importance for the life of the church".
One of those called to hear the announcement, the Mexican prelate Monsignor Oscar Sanchez, said none of the cardinals had expected it.
"The pope took a sheet of paper and read from it. He just said that he was resigning and that he would be finishing on February 28," he said.
His successor is expected to be elected by the end of March and possibly for the beginning of holy week on 24th March.
Benedict will honour public commitments and engagements until the date of his resignation, after which he will move to a summer residence near Rome and then to a former monastery within Vatican territory.
He will take no part in the process to elect a successor.
Cardinals will meet and vote on nominees in a series of ballots until a new pope is chosen.
Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said Benedict, 85, had resigned not because of "difficulties in the papacy" or a specific illness but instead a progressive decline in his strength.
"In the last few months he has seen a decline in vigour, both of the body and spirit," Lombardi told reporters.
"It was his personal decision taken with full freedom, which deserves maximum respect."
In a statement, Benedict said, "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry".
Benedict, who became the 265th pope in 2005, has arthritis, particularly in his knees, hips and ankles.
He had been due to travel to Brazil, the largest Catholic country in the world, in July for a youth festival, but concerns had been raised among Vatican observers about whether he was well enough.
A voluntary papal resignation is rare – certainly in recent centuries.
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