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The announcement that he would resign was shared with members of the Republican caucus this morning, one day after a historic visit of Pope Francis to Capitol Hill, which Boehner helped facilitate.

Boehner has been under pressure from the right wing of his party as the coming battle over government funding heats up. Some lawmakers have mounted a challenge to unseat him from his leadership post.

\"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,\" an aide to Boehner told ABC News.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, called the announcement of Boehner's resignation \"seismic\" at a news conference today.

“The resignation of the Speaker is a stark indication of the disarray of the House Republicans,\" said Pelosi, who served as House Speaker before turning the gavel over to Boehner in 2011. \"With all due respect to the Speaker and his announcement, we still have to stop the government from shutting down.\"

President Obama remarked today on Boehner's resignation, saying it took him by surprise, and that he called Boehner directly upon hearing the news.

\"John Boehner is a good man,\" Obama said. \"We have obviously had a lot of disagreements and politically we are at different ends of the spectrum, but he has always conducted himself with the courtesy and civility with me.\"

ABC News' Ali Weinberg contributed to this report.

Get real-time updates as this story unfolds. To start, just \"star\" this story in ABC News' phone app. Download ABC News for iPhone here or ABC News for Android here.

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