Md. clerics caught off-guard by pope's surprise resignation

Clerics throughout the nation's oldest Catholic diocese -- the State of Maryland -- were caught off-guard by Pope Benedict XVI's surprise announcement Monday that he would resign effective Feb. 28, The Gazette reported.

The 85-year-old pontiff cited illness and infirmity as influencing his decision to do what no pope has done in nearly 600 years, since Gregory XII in the Middle Ages.