Cranberry, Western PA Catholic Leaders React, Express Surprise at Pope's Resignation
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, formerly the bishop of Pittsburgh, will vote for the next pope.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl said he was so surprised to hear Pope Benedict XVI was resigning that he called Rome to confirm it. That is what the former bishop of the Pittsburgh Diocese told NewsRadio 1020 KDKA this morning. Wuerl, now the archbishop of Washington, D.C., will be one of 120 cardinals to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI at a March conclave. He said the announcement that the pope is resigning, effective Feb. 28, came as "very surprising news", according to KDKA. Bishop David Zubik, the current leader of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he noticed the pope looking frail when Zubik visited Rome in October. Zubik, who was assigned to Pittsburgh by Pope Benedict, said he is saddened by the news but…
