in that role, he was a cardinal and known as cardinal ratzinger.t that time, back in the 1970's and 1980's, the victims were speaking up and coming forward and trying to get some semblance of justice. more important, they wanted to prevent other children from going through what they had been through. so they contacted the people in the vatican and cardinal ratzinger was involved. he had the opportunity to intervene, remove father murphy from his position in the priesthood, and cardinal ratzinger chose not to do that. there are letters, apparently, father murphy started writing to cardona ratzinger and asked that he be permitted to live out the rest of his life as a priest in good standing. cardinal ratzinger made the decision that that was more important than ensuring the safety of children or try and heal those who they knew had been violated by father murphy. i think that is unfortunately the legacy that pope benedict left for us, one with words but not action. something simple like today, and in these last two weeks, we would even encouraged pop

choice the church is facing this time isd the same one it faced eight years ago when it chose cardinal ratzinger then. then he appeared to be the heir apparent.en he this time, scott, there isn'the one. >> pelley: mark, thank you very much.'t mark just mentioned cardinal timothy dolan, the archbishop of new york. he sat down with us earlier today. were you surprised this morning? >> was i ever startled! y yes, i was! >> pelley: what's next? this hasn't happened in nearly six hundred years.s ne >> this hasn't happened in six centuries, has it?a now we know what happens when the pope dies. whether the same protocol will click in, i don't know. di i'll be waiting to see.t i would presume what would happen is that the cardinal colleges will be summoned too rome to be there for march 1 because once the chair is vacant, by church law the college of cardinals would be -- would oversee the day in/day out pastoral leadership andan governance of the church universal. >> pelley: the pope was very conservative in a doctornal sort of way. when a lot of american catholicsy ha are looking for a pope to lead in

it took about a day and a half to elect cardinal ratzinger to make hem pope benedict xvi last time. this time it could take a lot longer. just, you know, peek looking at sort of the early candidates note there's no clear favorite among the vatican experts. at this point in time a couple of interesting things to keep in mind as we watch this. most of the electors -- i think all of the electorses all the cardinals were appointed by john paul ii and benedict xvi. the growth in the catholic church these days is in latin america. is in asia and is in africa. will they go outside europe and possibly choose a pope from one of the other church is growing? that's one of the questions a lot of people are asking today. >> the author of the pew book evangelical catholicism, deep reform in the 21st century church. got a copy here. just hot off the presses. to write this book you deeply reporting and, of course, you have known pope benedict xvi for 23 years since he was cardinal ratzinger. tell us about this process, first of all, the decision which, as you have said and others, this comes from g

cardinal ratzinger as cardinal and again as pope benedict was considered a hard liner with the doctrineatholic church, and that was a hard point for all people. as the catholic church struggles with what to do with its american churches at a time when the churches outside the united states are the ones that are flourishi flourishing. we appreciate the update. nick, thanks so much. got to take a break. >>> still ahead, we're going to take a look at the gramiys. if you want to know who won and who lost. diarrhea, gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. live the regular life. phillips'. so i used my citi thankyou card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want.

as cardinal ratzinger served as the head of the powerful congregation for the doctrine of the faith, in earlier years as the inquisition. church records indicate ratzinger was aware of father murphy's abuse, yet murphy remained a priest until his death in 1998. of course, murphy was just the tip of the iceberg. in fact, as the documentary reports, from 2001 on, every single priest sexual abuse case came directly to ratzinger. >> as a result of terry's lawsuit, documents were uncovered revealing the role of rome in the worldwide sex abuse scandal that caught the attention of "the new york times." >> these documents seemed to turn the whole story that we had been writing all these years on its head. up until then, what we thought was that american bishops were at fault. with these documents, for the first time we saw communication between american bishops and in particular the office run by then cardinal ratzinger in which the american bishops are pleading with officials in the vatican repeatedly, saying help us get this priest out of the priesthood. the victims are asking us to defrock

when cardinal ratzinger was the front-runner for pope. >> he was the guy to beat. it was ratzinger versus not ratzinger. there is no obvious candidate. and they don't know each other very well. more than half of them have been appointed by this pope in the last eight years. so, they have to get to know each other. and then, see who's for whom before they can -- form a consensus. >> discussions have begun even though the conclave hasn't met yet. you pointed out that more than half were chosen by pope benedict. that means he's going to have some influence on the choice, even though he pledged to stay out of it. >> and he pledges to pray for them and hopes that the holy spirit leads them in the right direction. which is interesting, george. in the past, he said the holy spirit didn't have much to do with the conclaves. he didn't want to blame the holy spirit for a bad pope. it is a time when people really don't know what's going to happen. and that makes it exciting but also a little bit scary. the secretary of state -- former secretary of state, who greeted the pope

pope benedict has always -- even cardinal ratzinger, very precious about his health. all of them and he's very intent on preserving his strength, which is why he did not maintain the public schedule john paul did. the one public audience per week. other than that he really -- did his admin straif work, played his piano, prayed in the garden. a very routine schedule he abided by which is why i find this additionally shocking. i know there was an intention to preserve his strength so that he could continue this office. the interesting thing, as i listen to this statement, john paul said at the time, when he asked him if he should resign, some cardinals were calling for his resignation, and he says a father does not leave the family, so it will be interesting to see how pope benedict explains this to the flock at large, but obviously, one has to say he -- this is -- i'm sure a decision not made lightly. my sense is that the health crisis must be pretty serious if he is going to this drastic measure of resigning, and it's certainly going to be a dramatic event and moment

if they had come and the latin americans would not have elected cardinal ratzinger seven years ago. >> western societies seem somewhat removed from the church. where is this going? >> it's a very old institution, isn't it? let me tell you is story. in the beginning of the fifth century, the gosse overran rome. -- the goths over ran. most people thought that was the end of the catholic church and christianity. just a few centuries later, the descendants of those same people built the man of this and cathedrals that are the pride of medieval europe. you are watching the journal on dw.

if they had come and the latin americans would not have elected cardinal ratzinger seven years ago. >> western societies seem somewhat removed from the church. where is this going? >> it's a very old institution, isn't it? let me tell you is story. in the beginning of the fifth century, the gosse overran rome. -- the goths over ran. most people thought that was the end of the catholic church and christianity. just a few centuries later, the descendants of those same people built the man of this and cathedrals that are the pride of medieval europe. you are watching the journal on dw.

i remember in a meeting with the students after dinner sitting around with cardinal ratzinger and he was open to questions. so one young man says cardinal, tell us how you pray. what is he going to say? but he explains how he prays. he wasn't worried about holding back or something. it was just very simple and very direct. so this book is a pops to all of the questions that participate wanted to ask as pope. the one that i was interested in because of the resignation, he asked would you resign because of the abuse crisis? and he said you don't resign when things get tough? and he said do you ever think of resigning? and he said yes. period. and he explains it. if i thought i no longer had the strength or force to fulfill the office, then i would resign. perhaps i would have to resign. so he told us in 2010. >> he is genuinely an anxiety- free individual. >> i wouldn't call itself confidence, i would call it confidence in the lord. he is so much united to our lord, he will do whatever he thinks is right. >> there will be a loss in confidence if we don't take a break. >> okay. >> more

i think that benedict's most important legacy was the one that he was working on as cardin cardinal ratzingerok the vatican to the greatest event in the last hundred years was properly understand. >> paul: the second vatican council. >> the second vatican council, he was creating a roll your own catholocism and ratzinger want today clarify it's rooted in the traditions of the catholic church. >> paul: engage in the modern world in the catholics terms. >> after all, this is the pope on twitter the first time. it wasn't all about that, but it's about the future. he did a lot of outreach to china's catholics and traveled a lot for a pope of his age and started to tackle some of the more difficult scandals of the church such as the child abuse cases. >> paul: what should the church to be looking for when you look at the cardinals and the the next pope, mary? >> i hope they look for a pope that can reinvague rate the church where it's ailing, namely europe and the united states and if you look at the top ten catholic countries in the the world. brazil, the philippines, poland and eastern europe an

radicalism to cardinal ratzinger and pope benedict was anathema.'ve seen over the course of the history of popes in some way as person who comes in for a shorter period of time. it was as you and i discussing at break felt at the time of pope john paul ii he was the right person to keep the faith, to hold onto the gains made under john paul ii. what have we learned from benedict about what comes next? >> i think the pope served, if you will, his time with great honor and valor. the when it elects popes has a history going long pope, short pope, long pope, short pope. obviously when they reached out to elect carol who became the john paul the 2nd after john paul the first only serve ad few weeks as a pope. they were shaken by this immediate death of their leader and wanted somebody younger and more robust. i think that is what you might see this time again. martha: i wonder, people talk about archbishop or about cardinal dolan in new york as one of the no doubt minutes away probably in the news cycle starting to put together lists people that are co

. >> reporter: benedict seemed to many a reluctant pope, as cardinal ratzinger under john paul ii, he was known as a conservative guardian of church doctrine, opposing women priests, abortion and homosexuality. as pope, he inherited the church's biggest scandal in decades. revelations that priests had sexually abused children. he met with victims and apologized. >> for all, i express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these despicable crimes. >> reporter: for almost eight years, pope benedict met the most arduous demands of the modern papacy. today he said that will end in just 17 days. the pope will eventually move into a monastery for cloistered nuns in the vatican. officials say he will dedicate his time to prayer and reflection. brian? >> richard engel, thanks. >>> for a lot of american catholics, this pope was a man whose name they heard once a week at mass. a relative enigma compared to john paul ii, of course. an old fashioned man in modern times. and now the question for catholics and their church becomes what next. nbc's anne thompson is here with us, with part of that

cardinal ratzinger had an enforcement of catholic doctrine.was tenure include sexual abuse scandal ins the church. accused of being slow to act to resol tv problem he gained credit for how he dealt with the crisis. >> handleed it sensitively and very forth rightly amid clarity. he brought in measures to try and stamp out the coverup culture and he has brought in base for people to console. >> a great goal was to bring people back to the church, as what he considered the excessive secularization. he employed skills as a writer and a teacher. >> it was incredible effective. he sounded just like a real good parish catechism teacher. combination there of great depth. same time, simplicity in explaining some of the concepts. >> while he enlisted -- elicited less emotion than the last pontiff, many say pope benedict commandered respect for intellectual rigor. those who know him personally say he did give off much warmth. >> i told his secretary, i said, you know, benedict a gentleman and a gentleman. he said that was best description he heard of the

there has not been a non- european pulp in -- including cardinal ratzinger. there has not been a non- europeans since the middle ages. something like 780. that is working against the three on that short list. that is the latest. >> thank you. for continuing coverage on the pope's resignation, go to our website, wbaltv.com. you can track can take a look back in his career and learn about his legacy on the abuse scandal. >> here's a look at other top stories. baltimore city police have made an arrest in a homicide 0 -- a woman found dead inside her home. jennifer conyers was found dead in her home but she died of head trauma, police said. a man was driving her car and use your atm card and admitted to using cocaine and heroin. carter met her using an online dating site but said he had not seen her for several weeks. the mayor is calling for sweeping changes tonight when it comes to the city's finances. while delivering her annual state of the city address, she later reform plans that include changes to city employee pensions and benefits as well as the city's t

since 1415 haven't had to deal with that sort of thing and it's possible he'll be cardinal ratzingerin the monastery in the back of the vatican city which you see over my shoulder and he'll write and pray, and the sorts of things that all cardinals do. there are a lot of questions whether there's something he has to say about the current pope then cardinal ratzinger, i surprise and differs with the new pope, is there a division in the church? all of these things percolating and these folks and catholics wonder why, what happens when there's a pope and a former pope. >> alisyn: shepard, you know italians, some of your closest friends, i can say this because i'm italian-american. we love the theatrical. we love drama. we love opera, we love palace intrigue. is there a lot of discussion about conspiracy theories of perhaps not believing that this is just about his health? >> of course. and absolutely. and, but they had worked very hard to get in front of those things and even come out and said, look, he had a pacemaker, something probably people would have learned at some point. and he'

german cardinal joseph ratzinger was 78 years old when he became pope in april 2005 following the death of pope john paul ii. he was the oldest person to become pontiff in 275 years. benedict xvi was a conservative pope, he strongly opposed to birth control, but he embraced new forms of communication and joined twitter last year. pope benedict faced a string of challenges during his term from sexual abuse scandals involving the members of the clergy to an investigation into money laundering in vatican city. a court convicted his former butler last year of stealing and leaking classified documents that pointed to corruption in the vatican. the pope pardoned him over christmas. it's rare for a pope to resign. pope benedict is the first to quit in nearly 600 years. senior members of the catholic church will now start planning their conclave, the meeting they hold to choose a successor. >>> police in the united states are investigating yet another case of gun violence. pop ben fikt benedict xvi will be one of the most religious thinkers of the age. >> the president says he has warm memories

cardinal joe george ratzinger with the -- cardinal george ratzinger and by all counts pope benedict actually a shy man who loves reading and writing books more than greeting crowds. >> he has come to the conclusion that he doesn't have the physical energy any longer to discharge his duties as pope. >> cardinal wuerl says that admission from the pope is more evidence the father is a him man. at 85 years old -- a humble man. at 85 years old pope benedict 16th says he no has the strength to lead and no one including the archbishop saw this coming, the first time it's happened in nearly 600 years. >> it came as an enormous surprise. >> pope benedict's decision to step down sets the stage for a conclave in march to elect a new leader of the catholic church. in recent months benedict has been showing signs of age and often seemed tired. local catholics know this wasn't an easy decision, but they're looking ahead. >> there's any number of possibilities of where the church might go. the church is more than just in the united states and so because of that the needs of the church on any given moment i

who as cardinal ratzinger, he didn't get it at the beginning, but he listened and he learned and he pushededs of priests out -- bad priests out of the priesthood. so the church is in a much better position today. mostly due to pope benedict than it was in the past. >> yeah, a lot of -- great to get your thoughts. a lot of people, of course, would disagree and still a lot of angst and a lot of people who say that the pontiff was stymied at attempts for reform. we will see what happens the next time around. we do appreciate your thoughts. reverend thomas reese, jesuit priest. thanks for your time today. >>> the last week and a half we have heard blt murder allegations against oscar pistorius, but he is not the only family member who's now in trouble. >> carl pistorius is facing homicide charges. all about a traffic accident. we'll have that story coming up. so...how'd it go? well, dad, i spent my childhood living with monks learning the art of dealmaking. you've mastered monkey-style kung fu? no. priceline is different now. you don't even have to bid. master hahn taught you all that? oh, and

>> i've known cardinal ratzinger now pope benedict xiv, many years before he was hope. not surprised at the decision. he always said his papacy would be determined on his strength, his ability to serve god and the church in the most effective way that he possibly can, and those of us who studied the papacy and studied what's going on in rome know that the holy father has been in declining health. he has made an incredible sacrifice to the church and to society by stepping down, leading the way to somebody stronger with more opportunity to reach out to so i think this is a great sacrifice. but one he always said what was in the best interests of god and church. >> monsignor, this is a shock to the catholic community, but what does it mean for the conclave that now will meet after february 28th, and who potential could be the next pope? what names would you suggest? >> i think i would be way ahead of myself, thomas if i even went there at all. what you want to concentrate on is the qualities that people will be looking forward to in the next pope. as so many people have m

i remember cardinal ratzinger before he became pope talked about making another stab at getting europeans back into the catholic church. making europe a less secular society. did he succeed? or is it just too difficult? >> well, he clearly made it one of his aims, the rechristianization of this old europe and the dying faith. he made great strides. one of the things -- one of the takeaways from this pontifficate is christianity is actually a relationship. it's a relationship with the person. and that person is jesus christ. and so that is one of the messages that is part of this new evangelicalization. >> george, let me ask you. is there going to be any changes in church dogma? i already hear liberals and lefties on the tv media talking about this that and the other thing. expect any changes? things like female priests. things like the church's attitudes towards the pro life movement. things of freedom of religion. >> we cardinals, larry, know that the growing part of the catholic church around the world is the church that -- to deconstruct that. catholic light has no future. so this is a

german cardinal joseph ratzinger became pope in 2405. he was the oldest person to become the pontiff. he strongly opposed birth control but embraced new forms of communication and joined twitter. he faced a string of challenges from sexual abuse scandals involving members of clergy to an investigation of money laundering in vatican city. a court convicted his former butler of stealing and leaking classified documents that pointed to corruption in the vatican. the pope pardoned him over christmas. it's rare for a pope to resign. pope benedict is the first to quit in nearly 600 years. senior members of the catholic church will start planning their conclave, the meeting they hold to choose a successor. catholics make up a small portion of the japanese population, still, they have been surprised by the pope's resignation. peter tekao okeda became archbishop in japan, has visited the vatican twice and was shot when he heard about the resignation. >> translator: i couldn't believe the news. we didn't see it coming. i was hoping the pope would

pope benedict was elected in 2005, formally known as cardinal joseph ratzinger. will be able to elect a new pope by march because they do not have to observe the traditional mourning time that follows the death of a pope. this is breaking news, just happening, i have reached out to the spokesman for the diocese in san francisco to get a reaction. i have not heard. we will keep trying. stay with us throughout the broadcast. reporting live if san francisco for abc7 news. >> no doubt there will be strock reaction. stay with abc7 for continuing coverage on the resignation of pope benedict xvi, breaking news from overnight with the newest information at abc7 abc7news.co. we will tweet immediate updates on twitter. >> now out the door with a check on the weather forecast. >> any changes from yesterday? >> a few changes. it is cooler this morning. the frost is possible again. here is the radar and the sat light, live doppler 7 hd showing you how dry it is. we will take a look at the temperatures. you will be able to see we are running above frosty levels in all of our r

. >> and lord, joseph, roman catholic church, cardinal ratzinger.zinger. >> oh, back now to more recent images and it's clear that the pope, vatican leader has taken a toll on him physically and such a incredibly demanding position, he insists that the decision to step down was made without any outside pressure. greg palkot is outside london with the latest. >> reporter: it was a big surprise to a lot of people. pope benedict xvi saying he will step down on february 28th, less than eight years into the papacy and he went on to say that specifically his strength was deteriorating in the last few months and that's why he made the decision. according to the vatican today, this sets up a conclave of cardinals and elections for a new pope by mid march and the vatican saying we should see a new pope by easter sunday, march 31st. and benedict will not take part in that conclave and has to be said conclaves usually happen when poapst die and the last time a pope resigned was the year 1415. and pope benedict says that poapst should step down when they don't

had to focus on the apology, the fact that he had actually met individually in his role as cardinal ratzingernvestigating some of the problems of the abuse in the american church. >> he did go some way in terms of, you know, issuing an apology from the pope as a pretty lofty ideal, but, many of the, we still have a problem, many of the, worldwide with the sex scandal and the catholic church. they haven't addressed it at all levels. the vatican can pools. they can set lawsuits. there are a lot of damaged people out there who were basically abused as children, and no matter what he apologized for, it's almost as if his retirement now takes that off the stage and allows the next pope to move this a step further. there's a lot of reconciliation still to be achieved on that. he did not have an easy pontificate. he is a scholar. he is a man of incredible intelligence. a theologian. he is not -- the vatican has had very big difficulties in terms of the institution and who runs it and how they run it. it wasn't his fort yea. we should look for that in the next pope that's elected. >> perhaps there's

. >> i remember getting the senior cardinal ratzinger saying your eminence will accept to be the supremecatholic church. and he said, no, i can't. he said, i accept as the will of god. and then he's pope. >> reporter: white smoke from the chimney and tolling bells together signaling the history of the catholic church. and now the catholic church gets ready to say good-bye to pope benedict. you see the helicopter there, it's the white helicopter that will take him to castel gandolfo. he has been pope for eight years but lived here since 1981. >> anne thompson, a lot more from you coming up from the vatican. for now, back to new york and mr. roker. >> thanks so much, savannah. young man, wanting to push across the racing channel? >> starting april 6th of this year, i'll be pushing across the country. >> to do what? >> to raise awareness for all persons with disabilities and as to raise funds for an organization called stay focused. >> good luck. we hope you have good weather for it. >> thank you. >> let's see what we've got for you today. we're going to look basically at the snowfall for b