Hope and dismay among Catholics over pope's resignation

Pope Benedict XVI's impending resignation is dividing many Catholics between those who see it as a gesture of hope and renewal for the Church and those for whom it is an admission of weakness.

"It is a break that encourages the Church to examine its conscience to start afresh," said Paolo Colonnetti from the Focolare lay movement.

"It is not at all a gesture that desacralises or has any dangers for the Church," he said.

Father Sergio, superior general of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a religious congregation, said he too was optimistic.

"I am awaiting with a confident spirit the goodness the Church will receive from this move," he said.

With rising levels of secularisation especially in Europe "some people in the Church think that going back to tradition is the solution," he said.

Even so, some Church figures have suggested his sojourn within the Vatican might be short-lived.

Perhaps more controversial is the role of his secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein.

The fellow German will stay on as head of the papal household for Benedict's successor, while remaining Benedict's secretary and living with him.