Why would people be shocked by a pope dying? Popes die all the time. In fact, except for this one, every pope in the lifetime of every person on this planet has died in office. It's all well and good to say he quit because he's old and tired, but the fact remains that no other pope has resigned in 500 years. Naturally that's going to generate interest. Every pope gets old and tired, but they don't quit. What's different this time?
Maybe it really is for the reasons he says. Maybe he's trying to set a new precedent for future popes (which would be interesting). Most likely the reasons given are the reasons. But it's only human to speculate, especially when there's juicy gossip swirling about. What's a better story: "POPE RESIGNS, CITING AGE, POOR HEALTH" or "POPE RESIGNS IN FACE OF GAY SEX SCANDAL"? That's no contest.