Tagged: catholic church

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign Feb. 28 — the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March.

The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning.

He emphasized that carrying out the duties of being pope — the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide — requires "both strength of mind and body."

A Roman Catholic church in Chicopee closed by the Springfield Diocese in 2009 is scheduled to start celebrating a weekly Mass again a year after the Vatican determined that local church officials could not sell the building. 

The diocese announced Wednesday that a weekly Mass would be celebrated at St. Patrick starting Dec. 1.

The diocese stressed that the decision does not mean that St. Patrick would re-open as a distinct parish. St. Patrick remains a subsidiary of Holy Name of Jesus Parish.