Sinead O'Connor reacts to Papal announcement

Sinéad O’Connor has welcomed the news that The Pope will be stepping down on February 28 – the first time a pontiff has resigned in nearly 600 years.

“I would like to congratulate Pope Benedict on his wise decision to retire before the very worst of what has been going on is discovered,” O’Connor says suggesting something more sinister than the “advanced age” cited in today’s official announcement.

“I appreciate his alluding to some of it in his statement and assure him The Most High forgives those who can faithfully say they did wrong. “The church had been brought into dreadful disrepute by lies and blasphemies against The Holy Spirit,” she continues. “Benedict’s greatest achievement is this act of retiring. There is a chance now for the church to be re-built and made fit to house The Holy Spirit.”

When Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005 he became one of the oldest new popes in history. Critics – including our own Enda Kenny – have accused him of failing to properly address the issue of clerical child sex abuse.

In other celebrity reactions, comedian Frankie Boyle opines, “The Pope must have done something even the Church finds unacceptable. I'm guessing he's shagged an adult woman”; Lisa Hannigan quips, “The next series of Pope Idol is only a few weeks away... Make them all sing 'I Dreamed A Dream'!”; Pierce Morgan proffers, “The Queen's a year older than The Pope. Can't see her ever resigning because she's tired”; recent Hot Press interviewee Jack Whitehall wonders, “Will the papacy now be foisted upon a younger pope with a stutter and a fear of public speaking?”; Simon Pegg weighs in with, “I bet he gets one really dangerous assignment, just before he retires, like a civil war or an exorcism” and Mia Farrow adds a touch more sensibly, “Hoping for a more progressive successor – imagine a Pope more like Archbishop Desmond Tutu.”