Pope Benedict XVI stunned the world by announcing his impending resignation.  The former Josef Ratzinger will punch the Vatican clock for the last time on February 28.  

The shocking announcement states that in order to govern, "both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.

"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter."

Popes almost never resign.  In fact, to find the most-recent pontiff to do so, one would have to send the DeLorean back almost 600 years.  Gregory XII ended his reign grudgingly and only to settle a claim from a papal rival.  Prior to that, the last Pope to freely step down was Celestine V in 1294.

The replacement as leader of the world’s 1 Billion Roman Catholics will as always be chosen by the College of Cardinals when that body meets in Rome next month.  Benedict does not worry about a schism in his absence.  There are 120 Cardinals who will vote for the next Pope.  Benedict appointed 67 of them.  In fact, the reign of Benedict XVI will be remembered for the number of like-minded conservatives elevated to positions of power.

But, the Benedict era will be remembered mainly for Scandal, the most egregious being the Roman Catholic Church Child Sex Abuse Crisis.  And that is far from being resolved.

Other dark clouds formed when he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying Islam had only brought evil to the world and that it was spread by violence.  That didn’t go over very well in the Muslim world, and was met with protests and the murder of a Nun in Somalia.  Benedict traveled to predominantly Muslim Turkey to calm the situation.

So who are the front-runners to fill the Shoes of the Fisherman?  Vatican-watchers say there is no clear favorite.  After almost 2,000 years of mostly-European Pontiffs, there is a growing feeling that the Pope should come from a developing nation, or at the very least from the             world’s most-Catholic continent.  South America is home to 450 Million Roman Catholics, almost half of the entire world’s congregation.  However, Europeans are frequently mentioned on the short list:  Cardinal Angelo Scola is the archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn is the archbishop of Vienna.  Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet also is considered a front-runner.  An American is unlikely to get it, the optics of a Pope from the world’s only super-power would be difficult to justify in most of the world.