RD Sahl on Pope Benedict's Resignation

(NECN) - Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he's resigning, becoming the first pontiff in almost 600 years to step down.

The 85-year-old Pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, saying that he no longer has the strength to fulfill his duties.

Special correspondent and Boston University professor RD Sahl joined NECN to discuss the surprising resignation.

Sahl looked at the likelihood that the resignation has to due with scandal.

"This is a man who worked with John Paul II for 25 years. He watched that decline, as all of us did, and in those final days, those agonizing, agonizing, painful pictures of John Paul standing in the window of the apostolic palace, barely able to stand, barely able to speak, clearly infirm and failing and on his way to death."

"I don't have any evidence that there's anything else going on."

Sahl also looked at the next possible pope and when the next pope could be in place.