Update: 9:41AM POPE Benedict XVI has resigned and will step down on February 28th, the Vatican has announced.
He announced his decision to step down as head of the worlds largest Christian denomination during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning, saying age prevented him from carrying out his duties.
He will officially resign on February 28, making him the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years.
The announcement comes just weeks after the Vatican appointed Father Doctor Peter Loy Chong, a diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of Suva, as the next Archbishop of Suva to replace Archbishop Petero Mataca.