and in a kind of reflective way which i imagine in his manner about what the duties are of an ailing pope. he is talking about a duty to resign if he simply cannot do the task on physical and mental grounds. another interesting quote -- a second-hand source but a reputable newspaper that normally does not get these things wrong. the pope's brother. saying his doctor told him, for example, he should not undertake transatlantic flights any more. so, you are getting a much more full picture of the circumstances behind his resignation. in terms of the cult and outboard reaction you initially asked me for, let me quote the federal government. a pro-government has the

greatest possible respect for the holy father for his accomplishments and lifelong work for the catholic church. i think it is fair to say -- shocked, surprised, and also now going back to the initial -- when the pope was appointed, the very basic pride, one of our people got the top job. that is what germans felt and that is certainly what the government -- what people are feeling now. despite a lot of controversy, debate over the way he held the job. >> thank you very much. i will bring reaction from spain in a moment. but based on what steve was having to say -- the duty, whether it be to health or circumstances -- everything he has had to deal with. >> sounds very much he is paving the way for the possibility. he has not broken a rule. several hundred years ago there was a change in canada law that if the pope decided to resign in

full freedom -- the key words, it means nobody has pushed him out. if he has done it off of his own -- it is -- a lot of people were saying before that john paul ii for have should have done that to save themselves all of the pain but he very much felt that his was an office that lived and died with him at that point. clearly pope benedict xvi feels it is better to hand it over to someone, given the size of the job at how much response ability it is. >> let's turn to the bbc's tom burridge for madrid. the reaction there. >> no official reaction yet but we did get through to a priest in the local parish in madrid that expressed the surprise, a complete shock, i guess, over the decision saying he has not spoken to any colleagues,

friends and religious circles who has heard any rumors that the pope was thinking of stepping down. this is a country pope benedict xv has visited three times and collected. 2006, he went to valencia. 2010, santiago and in barcelona. and then the following year he came to the capital, madrid. he was quite critical, interestingly, in the visit to barcelona. the policies toward the church -- prime minister zapatero. he legalized gay marriage and relaxed abortion laws and the pope on that is a call on europe's catholics to renew the faith and fought the aggressive secularism of the spanish government. pope benedict put a lot of importance on spain because spain -- a good relationship. yes, it large section is very

catholic in the but of but a large section, mainly young, and on the left, who are very secular and very disenfranchised with the catholic church. >> in terms of your analysis, then, how do you see this being played out? yolanda talking about the south american population. some sort of uncertainty. will it were re the young, more modern catholics, as you suggest? >> there is a large south american population in spain as well. a huge ecuadorian population, for example, in the capital, madrid. there will be a lot of people who will show a huge interest in what has happened, especially because this is the first time a pope has resigned like this. it will be a massive story. it already is. it is running all across the media. no official reaction from the official catholic church in spain as of yet. but some commentators we have seen on spanish television

talking about how momentous the decision is and sort of hinting at some kind of praise really, saying this is magnanimous or using that kind of language. that is sort of the initial election we're getting out through the spanish media. >> thank you very much. that word humble has been used. in the basis of this analysis -- the right thing to do. there may be more sympathy for him. >> he is a very frail person anyway, being 85. the thing is, he has never been -- outside people did not quite warm up to him. now there is like an open door about who will be the new pope and possibly, depending on what the result is, there might be some from latin america. huge news for the region -- whatever happens in the vatican is very closely followed by the area. >> and a reminder how he is

seen. appointee. perhaps creating unease -- he has chosen to go. >> he is a priest of priests, the holy father and people pray to him every sunday. to suddenly have him step down, what other catholics think of him, his views, conservative or liberal, it will be a very profound shock. a sudden death in leadership. it is very much a top-down organization. but there were a lot of rumblings now that things need to change in the needs to be more safe for people, including the layman. >> what is likely to happen now? the vatican has spoken about the transition every period being as brief as possible. >> people will be scrambling obviously. we did not know -- of course, it is so extraordinary.

but with john paul ii, there years people thought any minute we have to plan for the future. they are talking about a short amount of time. maybe it will be just weeks before they have a new gathering of all of the cardinals in order to vote in a new pope. but all the maneuvering that had been going on before, all that kind of thing, there does not seem to be a front runner of the moment. it really is wide open. >> thank you very much for coming in. thank you. stay with us on bbc world news. more on our breaking news. pope benedict xvi is to resign at the end of the month. the official in charge of india 's massive religious festival has announced he will resign the day after a stampede killed at least 36 people. he said he took a moral

responsibility for the deaths of which happened when a foot bridge collapsed at a railway station. most of the victims are said to be women. some 30 million programs have been bathing in the river. our correspondent is there. >> the streets are overflowing -- overflowing with people. hindu children trying to return home. you can see how it everywhere there are people trying to find a way to get home, trying to negotiate with rickshaws. looking for a path somewhere out of town. others like this group of people, just settled down on the road because there is no way of finding a way to get home. the authorities say the accidents that took place at the railway -- railway station have been possibly when a pedestrian bridge gave way because of the sheer number of people. most of the people, women and

children, caught in the crash and simply not able to get away. >> it became so overcrowded that they broke the barricade on to the platform. when the stampede occurred, there were several thousand people on the footbridge. >> they were part of an estimated 30 million people who attended the festival on sunday. a most auspicious day when hindus believe a bit in the ganges river will wash away a lifetime of secondary -- lifetime of cinder them 18 coal miners believed been killed in an explosion in northern russia. 10 bodies already recovered and it is feared another seven maybe trapped in the rubble after a an explosion triggered by a buildup of methane gas. >> top story today -- pope benedict xvi is to resign at the end of this month because of

failing health. he says he no longer has the strength to fulfill his office. french president francois hollande said those found guilty of passing off a horse meat as beef must be punished. earlier, the romanian prime minister said investigations at an abattoir near bucharest found no irregularities. officials have been trying to determine how exactly the meat came to be labeled as beef before being shipped out to do processing firms. incident has raised serious questions about the complexity of the food supply chain. more from paris. >> now it is french supermarket, too, removing ready meals from the cells. also owned brand meals -- all produced at this factory in luxembourg where, last august from a delivery of what was supposed to be be turned out to be one of course -- horse.

the official consensus is this is not a health scare but labelling scheme. in britain, the environment minister said all is being done to identify those responsible. >> i made it absolutely clear that should there be material which represents a serious threat to human health and emerging from the tests emerging over the next few days,, i will not hesitate to take the necessary action. i will work with the european commission and european authority but we are not in a position to unilaterally and arbitrarily ban a product in the rules of the single market. >> they are trying to establish how and when the horse was relabeled as before being delivered to the luxembourg processing plant. french officials are looking at a supply chain which begins in romania at an abattoir where they slaughter both beef cattle and horses. from there it is but a dutch trader acquired the meat and it was then sold to another trader, this time in cyprus.

next, it was sold to its french company which sold -- which sold to the luxembourg plan. tests on ready-made bows and yet -- lasagna and the u.k. revealed it was 100% horse meat. it is a highly complex business, the modern food industry. the old system of farm, to shop, to kitchen replaced by a web of trade and financial interest and mass manufacturing. but someone somewhere has been cheating and across europe, the people want to know who. hugh schofield, bbc news, paris. but let's return to the main story, " but added xvi is to resign his post as the head of the catholic church -- pope benedict xvi. for people joining, just remind us where we are with this momentum moved this morning. >> out of the blue announcement came from the italian news agency the pope has resigned. none of us could quite believe that the moment it could be true. there have not been any rumors.

nobody was talking about it. he did not seem to be ill or anything. but it happened and it is true and he made an announcement in latin himself saying he felt -- in the last few months his strength of mind and body, which are necessary for the job, has deteriorated to the extent i have to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. in other words, it looks like a health this an enormous job. after all, he is 85. >> we heard from the gentleman papers are referencing an interview that he has given which really alluded perhaps to not being in the best of health. >> it looks as if he has been paving the way. that he would step down if he did not feel he was capable of doing the job. that is exactly what he has done.

he watched his predecessor decline in health over many, many years. and what it did to the papacy as well. many said it meant it was but, it could not move on or progress. he himself was basically running the catholic church while john paul ii was sick and he did not want it to happen to him. >> absolutely on chartered. we have not had a resignation of a pope for hundreds of years. david? >> no, indeed. not since the 13th century, a day or two ago. it was a bombshell, this announcement. but when you consider that the pope has been looking pretty frail in recent months and he has had to be wheeled about on a sort of mobile platform and that he has been walking with a stick, his frailty is becoming increasingly obvious in recent months.

but i think nobody actually thought he would decide to step down, which he has done. this of course immediately throws it into disarray because he has given notice until the end of the month of -- at the end of the month there will be known as a vacancy of the holy see and the cardinals of the catholic church by cannon law are obliged to elect a successful -- his successor. this will have to be organized hastily -- not too hastily. we will not know until march. but it is a moment of great organizational skill for the vatican to get it back together. and obviously there will be a lot of lobbying by possible candidates. there will be -- it will be an interesting period in the coming days and weeks to see how the church is going to deal with

this sudden vacancies. >> thank you very much for joining us, david. just getting some pictures and now live from the vatican. vatican city coming in to us here on bbc world on the day that pope benedict xvi has resigned his post as head of the catholic church. more developments to come, bbc world. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. fidelity investments. and sony pictures classics nowa classicsmore." >> has your life and career change? fidelity is here for your personal economy.

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