Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI , sits in his house in Regensburg, southern Germany, Monday Feb. 11, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI said Monday he lacks the strength to fulfill his duties and on Feb. 28 will become the first pontiff in 600 years to resign. The announcement sets the stage for a conclave in March to elect a new leader for world's 1 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/dpa, Armin Weigel)
Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI , sits in his house in Regensburg, southern Germany, Monday Feb. 11, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI said Monday he lacks the strength to fulfill his duties and on Feb. 28 will become the first pontiff in 600 years to resign. The announcement sets the stage for a conclave in March to elect a new leader for world's 1 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/dpa, Armin Weigel)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a statement at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Feb. 11, 2013. Merkel says she has the "very highest respect" for German-born Pope Benedict XVI's decision to step down. Further she told reporters after the pontiff's announcement: "As chancellor, I thank Benedict XVI for his work and wish him from the bottom of my heart all the best for the coming years." (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
FILE - This mid-1970s file photo shows the archbishop of Munich and Freising, Joseph Ratzinger, who is to be elevated to cardinal by Pope Paul VI. Ratzinger was elected Pope, April 19, 2005 and chose Benedict XVI as his papal name. Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, he would resign Feb. 28 because he is simply too old to carry on. (AP Photo/File)
A man takes pictures of the birth place of Pope Benedict XVI in the German village of Marktl am Inn, southern Germany, Monday Feb. 11, 2013. In front the 'Benedikt Column'. Pope Benedict XVI said Monday he lacks the strength to fulfill his duties and on Feb. 28 will become the first pontiff in 600 years to resign. The announcement sets the stage for a conclave in March to elect a new leader for world's 1 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/dpa,Andreas Gebert)
BERLIN (AP) ? Many in Germany haven't always had an easy relationship with the conservative-minded Pope Benedict XVI, but most on Monday praised their countryman's courage in deciding to step down from his position amid failing health.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, a Protestant, said that the 85-year-old pope's decision that he was no longer fit enough to continue in the job "earns my very highest respect."
"In our time of ever-lengthening life, many people will be able to understand how the pope as well has to deal with the burdens of aging," she told reporters in Berlin.
The pope's elder brother, 89-year-old Georg Ratzinger, told the dpa news agency at his home in Regensburg that his brother had been advised by his doctor not to take any more trans-Atlantic trips and was having increasing difficulty walking.
"His age is weighing on him," Ratzinger said of the pontiff. "At this age my brother wants more rest."
He said he had known for months of the pope's decision. Others, however, were caught off guard.
Two old acquaintances of Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, from his time at Germany's University of Tuebingen, said they first thought the news was a joke.
"I didn't expect it, but it was something I wouldn't have put past him," Max Seckler, a retired theology professor who worked with Ratzinger at Tuebingen in the 1960s, said in a telephone interview. "He was in many aspects of his papacy very innovative and unconventional."
Seckler highlighted Benedict's ability to form "a real friendship" with Jewish leaders and said that "he invigorated dialogue with Islam in a credible manner."
He also highlighted the pontiff's "patience" in seeking reconciliation with the ultraconservative Society of St. Pius X. That's an issue that drew criticism in Germany, and even a public demand for clarification from Merkel, when he removed the excommunication of a traditionalist British bishop who had denied the Holocaust.
"He tried to present faith positively ? his writings as pope served that ? and he tried to foster reconciliation toward the right," said Dietmar Mieth, a professor emeritus of theology at Tuebingen who first met Ratzinger in the 1960s. "But otherwise, he reacted reservedly to changes or reforms, and in ecumenism there were rather symbolic actions than concessions of substance."
Hans Kueng, a theologian who was an early colleague and friend of Ratzinger but later fell afoul of the Vatican for challenging church doctrine and became a vocal critic, told news agency dpa that he respected Benedict's decision ? "but it has to be hoped that Ratzinger will not exert influence on the election of his successor."
He asserted that, given that Benedict has named many conservative cardinals, it would be hard to find someone "who could lead the church out of its many-layered crisis."
Unlike Polish-born predecessor John Paul II, Benedict hasn't enjoyed undivided admiration in his country, which is roughly evenly split between Catholics and Protestants and where many didn't appreciate his conservative approach. The day after he was elected in 2005, best-selling newspaper Bild's front page screamed "We are the Pope!," but the left-leaning Tageszeitung countered with the headline "Oh, my God!"
"The papacy of Pope Benedict XVI was a missed opportunity," said Volker Beck, an openly gay lawmaker with the opposition Greens. "Under him, the church in some cases fell back behind the innovations of the Second Vatican Council," the 1962-65 meetings that brought the Catholic Church into the modern world.
Still, the pope commanded pride in Germany ? particularly in his native Bavaria, where Gov. Horst Seehofer said: "Germany and Bavaria have an infinite amount to thank him for."
Even Germany's leading soccer authority weighed in ? Franz Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup both as player and coach.
"It's a pity for the Catholic church," Beckenbauer wrote on Twitter. "He was the best pope for me, which I experienced. I appreciate him very much."
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David Rising contributed to this story.
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