The Catholic community in the Bradford district paid tribute to Pope Benedict XVI, whose sudden resignation announcement yesterday was met with surprise.

The 85-year-old, who will resign on Thursday, February 28, said he was stepping down because he was too old and infirm to carry on.

Father Stephen Brown, of the Catholic Chaplaincy to Bradford University and College, described Pope Benedict’s decision as “cataclysmic” and said he was “one of the greatest minds we have seen on the world stage for a century”.

He said: “I am still coming to terms with it. Few people have his grasp of reality and the breadth of his vision and intellectual clout.

“He sees things in proper perspective and how all things fit together.

“It is highly unusual, but the Pope is a very humble man and wants to step down now rather than become progressively feeble.

“I can see the wisdom of that, and he has left a great legacy.”

Commenting on the comparison with Pope John Paul II, who remained as Pope until his death in 2005, he said: “I do not think he meant for all Popes to do that. I think Pope John Paul II wanted to teach the lesson of dignity of human life even when not at our physical best.”

Senior figures in the Catholic Church also paid tribute to Pope Benedict’s decision, including the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and leader of Catholics in England and Wales. He called on “people of faith” to pray for the 85-year-old Pontiff, saying that his announcement had shown “great courage”.

Pope Benedict is the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years. His decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new Pope before the end of March.

Father Wieslaw Duracz, of the Polish Roman Catholic Church, in Edmund Street, Bradford, said he was surprised. “He is an important person for the church,” he said.

“I shall have to read about it more, but Pope John Paul II served the Church until the end and he was suffering.”

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds, which includes Bradford, said the Pope’s decision “has come as a surprise to everyone in the Catholic Church and to the whole world”.

Monsignor John Wilson said: “The Diocese of Leeds wishes to express its spiritual solidarity with Pope Benedict XVI and the worldwide Catholic Church at this time.

“His intellect and witness have sustained Catholics throughout the past eight years.”

Helena Danielczuk, former head of the Polish Federation in Bradford, many of whom are Catholic, said she was completely shocked.

“This is severely out of kilter,” she said. “I can’t imagine it would be anything about what is happening in the world at the moment. There must be underlying reasons because Popes just do not do that, even when they are ill.”

The Anglican Bishop of Bradford, the Right Reverend Nick Baines, said: “I was surprised. This is a brave decision, made not for personal interest, but for the good of the Church and its ability to do its business effectively.

“This attitude characterises the Pope’s courageous, if not always popular, stance on many issues. He has been willing to stand his ground intellectually when the wind has been blowing in a contrary direction, and he has earned respect for doing so.”