UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Pope celebrates 85th birthday

|
 
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 8, 2012. The Pope called or an end to the violence in Syria in his annual Easter Mass message. UPI/Stefano Spaziani
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 8, 2012. The Pope called or an end to the violence in Syria in his annual Easter Mass message. UPI/Stefano Spaziani 
License photo
Published: April 16, 2012 at 1:59 PM

VATICAN CITY, April 16 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI accepted greetings on his 85th birthday Monday, and said he is inspired to go on by "the light of God."

The Vatican has encouraged followers to send birthday wishes by e-mail and is denying speculation the pope's apparent frailty might lead to his resignation, the ANSA news agency reported Monday.

"I find myself in the last stretch of the course of my life and I do not know what awaits me," the pope said in a statement. "I do know, however, that there is the light of God, and that He is risen."

"The Church is celebrating with joy as birthday greetings arrive from all over the world. The pope is leading us with great strength, kindness and faith, and therefore he is a gift from God," Federico Lombardi of the Holy See's Press Office told Vatican radio.

The birthday comes three days before the seventh anniversary of Benedict XVI's election to replace John Paul II.

Topics: Federico Lombardi, John Paul II
Recommended Stories
© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional World News Stories
1 of 16
Flags-In Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery
View Caption
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Roskos with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard," participates in the annual Flags-In ceremony, May 23, 2013, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Soldiers place American flags in front of more than 260,000 gravestones in the cemetery in honor of Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
fark
Actual headline: "Police give patrol cars to civilians, hilarity immediately ensues"
Deaf Chinese orphan adopted by American audiologist scheduled to get new type of cochlear implant....
Zookeeper goes in to feed tiger. Succeeds
NJ Transit shuts down train line based on a sighting of a man armed with "a long barrel assault...
On this week's episode of Some People are Capable of Amazing Feats: 17-year-old homeless girl becomes...
Photoshop this intrepid photographer