For more than 40 years the Historic Documents series has made primary source research easy by presenting full primary documents and excerpts from documents on the important events of each year for the United States and the world. Each volume includes approximately 70 events with well over 100 documents from the previous year, from official or other influential reports and surveys, to speeches from leaders and opinion makers, to court cases, legislation, testimony, and much more.

Historic Documents is renowned for the well-written and informative background, history, and context it provides for each document. Each volume begins with an insightful essay that sets the year's events in context, and each document or group of documents is preceded by a comprehensive introduction that provides background information on the event. Full-source citations are provided. Readers have easy access to material through a detailed, thematic table of contents and a cumulative five-year index that directs them to related material in earlier volumes.

Vatican Announces Resignation of Pope Benedict; Conclave Chooses New Pope: February 11 and March 13, 2013

Vatican Announces Resignation of Pope Benedict; Conclave Chooses New Pope: February 11 and March 13, 2013

Vatican announces resignation of Pope Benedict; Conclave chooses new Pope: February 11 and March 13, 2013

On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI stunned the world by announcing his resignation of the papacy during a routine meeting of the College of Cardinals. Vatican observers described Benedict's declaration as one of the most dramatic moments in the papacy's history, as no other pontiff had resigned his post since Pope Gregory XII stepped down in 1415 to end the Great Western Schism. A month after Pope Benedict's announcement, the College of Cardinals held a conclave to elect a new pope and selected Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the Roman Catholic Church's ...

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