House Speaker John A. Boehner has resigned from his position in Congress. He will leave his office at the end of October.

Boehner’s resignation comes days before the Sept. 30 deadline to approve a new Congressional budget solution. If Congress cannot come to agreement by Oct. 1, the government will be forced to close. Boehner was serving as the Speaker of the House during the government shutdown of 2013, and was thus under immense pressure to avoid shutting down the government while still achieving the GOP’s goal to defund Planned Parenthood.

In March, Boehner denied retirement rumors and discussed running again for Speaker of the House.

“I frankly think I’m in better shape with my own caucus than I have been any time in the last three years,” Boehner said at the time. “I think they understand me better.”

During the Pope’s visit to Washington D.C. this week, Boehner also made headlines for crying multiple times during the Pope’s address to Congress. Perhaps the Pope’s words moved Boehner and helped convince him to resign from Congress, or maybe all the time away from House of Representatives during the Pope’s visit helped him realize that he just didn’t want to go back.

Whatever triggered Boehner’s decision, this power shift is certain to change how Congress operates right before a critical election year.

This is a developing story, and we’ll be sure to update it whenever we receive new information.