It was announced Friday morning that House Speaker John Boehner is resigning from his leadership role and will be giving up his House seat at the end of October. The decision, according to an aide, was "for the good of the Republican Conference and the institution."

That's an understatement. Boehner has continually struggled to lead Republicans and faced the ire of his own members, complete with rumblings of ousting the speaker. But making it easy for them, he is instead stepping aside.

Boehner's announcement comes amid decisions on defunding Planned Parenthood and threats of a government shutdown if a budget agreement can't be reached. The outcome of these issues will have a huge impact on the GOP in the upcoming presidential elections.

But before the shock has even worn off and the scrambling begins, the buzz about who Boehner's likely successor will be has commenced. Perhaps first up is Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), in typical Republican fashion, he is simply the next in line. However, there are other names that are being thrown around including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), and even Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

"Speaker Boehner believes that the first job of any Speaker is to protect this institution and, as we saw yesterday with the Holy Father, it is the one thing that unites and inspires us all," his aide said.

And that might explain all the tears during Pope Francis's address to Congress on the eve of his resignation. Mystery solved.

Source: The Hill, New York Times