BREAKING NEWS: Pope Benedict to stand down as leader of the Catholic church

Pope Benedict XVI is to stand down as leader of the Catholic church, it was announced today.
The 85-year-old Pontiff said his strength was 'no longer adequate to continue in office due to his advanced age'.
He said: 'I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.'
He said he was making the decision in 'full freedom' but was 'fully aware of the gravity of this gesture'.
A Vatican spokesman said he will retire on February 28.

Further details of his resignation are not yet clear, but the decision is highly unusual as the vast majority of incumbents die in office.
A spokesman for the German government said that he was 'moved' by news of the Pope’s resignation.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI when he took office at the age of 78 in April 2005 after succeeding Pope John Paul II.
Ratzinger's stern leadership of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern successor to the Inquisition, delighted conservative Catholics but upset moderates and other Christians whose churches he described as deficient.
Born in Bavaria on April 16, 1927, Ratzinger was a leading theology professor and then archbishop of Munich before taking over the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981.
In that office, Ratzinger disciplined Latin American 'liberation theology' theologians, denounced homosexuality and gay marriage and pressured Asian priests who saw non-Christian religions as part of God's plan for humanity.
In a document in 2000, he branded other Christian churches as deficient - shocking Anglicans, Lutherans and other Protestants in ecumenical dialogue with Rome for years.
As dean of the College of Cardinals, he presided over John Paul's funeral Mass and the daily meetings of cardinals to discuss the next papacy.
Ratzinger was the oldest cardinal to be named pope since Clement XII, who was also 78 when he became pope in 1730. He is the first German pope since Victor II (1055-1057).
Pope Gregory XII was the last pope to resign, standing down in in the last 600 years.
Pope Gregory XII was the last pope resign when he quit in 1415 during the Western Schism when three people claimed the papal throne.
They were Roman Pope Gregory XII, Avignon Pope Benedict XIII and Antipope John XXIII.
After being chosen to be pope in Rome in 1406 he said that if Benedict renounced his claim to the papacy, he would renounce his.
They tried to negotiate but cardinals at the Council of Pisa rejected both their claims, instead chosing Alexander V.
Gregory XII created 10 more cardinals and set up a rival council.
That was deemed invalid and the Council of Constance finally appointed Gregory XII. His resignation to end the Western Schism was announced by protector Carlo I Malatesta.