Pope to resign!

[Mandy2003]

Didn't know this was allowed - thought they saw themselves as "chosen" by a higher power and it was a job for life

But no reason has been given yet following the simple announcement from the Vatican.

[NorthernLurker]

Very, very interesting news.

[ethelb]

Can people resign from Catholic marriage now?

[HoldMeCloserTonyDanza]

I reckon it's most likely along the lines of Alzheimer's or dementia. The church was adamant throughout JPII's slow decline that physical frailty didn't undermine the Papacy.

Now it might be that seeing JPII up close, Benedict disagreed with his decision.

But I think it's probably a mental health issue.

It is very, very unlikely to be connected to child abuse scandals. The Vatican doesn't think it has dine anything wrong in that regard

The only thing that suggests it could be a scandal is the timing - resigning in the middle of Lent is nuts. There may not be a new Pope by Easter. That's huge.

But that could be explained by him wanting to seize the chance of having the cardinals all in town for the canonisations.

[HoldMeCloserTonyDanza]

BBC news just said he was rumoured to have advised JPII to resign when he was very ill.

[gingercat12]

Good on him resigning. I was abroad ina Catholic country when JPII was dying, bless. Every news bulletin was full of which of his organs shut down in the past hour, and whether this means he is dead now. It was just awful!

[Chislemum]

deep respect. I am not surprised. He is old and he has been running the show (if I may say this with respect) for much much longer while the former pope was ill. so really i suspect he did not want to have another situation like under john paul ii. brave and intelligent man.

[Chislemum]

@HoldMeCloserTonyDanza not so sure. he has a weak heart and i remember his brother saying in a talk show (in Germany or Austria, can't remember which) after JPII died, that he hoped his brother would not be elected pope but could have a well-deserved retirement where he could write books.

[giveitago]

Well, he's resigned from his job. Nothing to be scared about. It's a job. Nothing bad will happen to Catholics or anyone else or the world because of this. They'll get a new one. I'm sure they have someone lined up.

[Herrena]

Lol at dadonice!

IF this is as simple as retiring due to physical infirmity (and I hope it is) then I think it's an admirable thing to do. If you believe that you are a leader of spiritual thought and a guide to millions of people then you'd probably be fairly terrified of the responsibility, anxious to do it well and (hopefully) sensible enough to hand over the baton when you judge yourself to no longer be capable.

Might be a big horrible scandal though. I'm not a Catholic so would find either situation equally interesting....

[Viviennemary]

I didn't much like him at first but I did end up thinking he was OK. He came over as very learned but quite humble in his own way. It was quite brave of him to resign if he thinks he is to old and frail to meet the challenges. Better now than in a few more years when his healthy deteriorates further.

[giveitago]

I doubt it's a new scandal as resigning just attracts attention. He may be very ill and doesn't want to be head of religion when he's in slow demise. If that's the case, then good on him.

Also a bit of coup as the new headlines will detract from the many not so great ones over the last many years. A bit a of breather.

[chicaguapa]

Putting Gorgeous Gorg in his place would reinvigorate the Catholic Church. I hope they use this opportunity to choose someone from this generation that can bring the Church up to date and lets people use condoms so they don't get Aids.

[mindosa]

Who does he hand his letter of resignation into

[giveitago]

God of course. It's god who chose him and god who must have preordained that he would resign at some point. Because god has someone else in mind now.

[RedToothBrush]

Just an aside.

If the pope was chosen by a 'higher power' then surely this higher power reserves the right to change its mind and decide that he can resign as the higher power wants someone else instead.

The current Pope is the fourth oldest in history too. The oldest lived to 93. But the other two older popes were 86 and 87 when the popped their clogs.

So obviously God isn't really into Popes going much past the age of the current Pope anyway. And as a job for life, I think working towards and getting the job at the grand old age of 78 and going on to 85 is pretty much a life vocation anyway.

[RedToothBrush]

Another thought.

If the Pope resigns, doesn't he theoretically get to have a greater influence on who succeeds than he would if he was dead?

[giveitago]

Yup - so the higher power made a mistake. I'm thinking the higher power is going to inject a bit of secular political correctness into the choosing of new spiritual leader.

[slug]

So the speculation round work at the moment is he is resigning because either:
a) Ill health
b) The Catholic Church scandals are about to expose him
c) He's emigrating to England with Gorgeous George to have a same sex marriage

[grovel]

He'll be having Ex Benedict for breakfast tomorrow.

[JugglingFromHereToThere]

Genius grovel, genius !

[FrankellyMyDearIDontGiveADamn]

Paddy Power are offering 1000/1 that Father Dougal Maguire gets the job

They've also priced Bono up at 1000/1

PMSL!

[ToomuchWaternotWine]

dadonice that actually made me really Laugh out Loud!! Get ye to the pope joke thread if not already, I'm off there now.

[ToomuchWaternotWine]

Actually I wouldn't bother with the joke thread it's gone all Professionally Offended.