US House Speaker John Boehner will resign from his leadership position and give up his seat at the end of October.
Mr Boehner made the decision while praying on Friday morning - a day after hosting Pope Francis at Congress.
Fighting
back tears, the 65-year-old said at a news conference that "turmoil"
over his leadership would do lasting damage to the House.
Mr Boehner has been under pressure from the conservative wing of his party ever since he took the job in 2011.
He suggested a private moment with the pontiff was partly behind the decision.
"The
Pope puts his arm around me and kinda pulls me to him, and says 'please
pray for me'. Well, who am I to pray for the pope, but I did."
Analysis - Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter
Mr Boehner becomes the first casualty in this new anti-establishment wave in the Republican Party.
The
challenge of managing the day-to-day operations of the House of
Representatives while satisfying an increasingly unruly - and growing -
faction of hardcore conservative backbenchers has finally brought him
down.
There
once was a time when a speaker could bend the House of Representatives
to his will by offering rewards and meting out punishment for
transgressions.
Those days are long gone, as members of Congress now answer to outside constituencies and interests. Read in full: Ted Cruz gloats at Boehner exit Twitter loses its favourite tearjerker
President Barack Obama said he was surprised by the news and had called Mr Boehner.
The
son of an Ohio barman, Mr Boehner assumed the leadership position in
January 2011, when Republicans took control of the House. Since then he
has faced down several rebellions.
The resignation comes as Republicans have been deliberating over plans to defund women's healthcare provider Planned Parenthood.
The organisation has come under fire from anti-abortion activists who claimed its employees were selling foetal organs.
Hardline
conservatives have urged the leadership to stall a government funding
bill - prompting a government shutdown - if language defunding the
healthcare provider is not included.
Media caption"It's a wonderful day", says John Boehner
Republican
Kevin McCarthy, a top pick to replace Mr Boehner, said in a written
statement that now was the time to focus on "healing and unifying".
And veteran congressman Peter King said the party had been "blackmailed" and the "crazies have taken over".
The speaker's Democratic counterpart pulled no punches in a morning news conference held after the announcement.
Describing
Mr Boehner's resignation as "seismic", House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi said, "The disarray among House Republicans, their obsession with
shutting down government at the expense of women's health needs to be
reckoned with and recognised".
Image copyright@JebBush / TwitterImage caption
Presidential candidate Jeb Bush was quick to praise his fellow Republican
On Thursday, Pope Francis became the first pontiff
to address a joint session of Congress following an invitation from the
Catholic House speaker.
Mr Boehner's staff said that he had
intended to resign at the end of last year, but the surprise defeat of
then House Majority Leader Eric Cantor "changed that calculation".
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