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.

[JugglingFromHereToThere]

Gorgeous George is linked to by FashionFail @ 12.08 Snazzy HTH [smle]

[RedLentil]

All those people suggesting God has predestined it all need to school themselves on Catholic interpretations of predestination and free will. Just saying.

I thought of Richard Chamberlain before I even clicked the link SisterMonicaJoan.

[NorthernLurker]

The Queen must be really fed up. Queen of the Netherlands, Archbish Rowan, The Pope - EVERYBODY is retiring. It's enough to make her paranoid.


My personal pet conspiracy theory is that he's done this now because he feels the cardinals will elect somebody younger but of a similar conservative viewpoint now. If he'd gone on till dying in office that could be another 5-10 years perhaps and he could have been followed by a more liberal candidate.

[LittlePushka]

You all have it completely wrong.... he is OBVIOUSLY leaving the Vatican as it is being confiscated by the Authorities to meet his spiralling care bills.

[olgaga]

My reaction? This was a man with knowledge of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church since at least 1981, who did absolutely nothing about it except prolong the cover-up.

He'll make way for someone else with decades of knowledge about child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, who will do nothing about it except prolong the cover-up.

Apart from that, and mild irritation at the fact that this will be a permanent fixture in the 24 hour rolling news headlines until the spring, I don't find it terribly interesting or relevant.

[TomArchersSausage]

Maybe he's been talking to Dougal from Father Ted and has gone off travelling with some hippies.

[Melty]

Christopher Hitchens view

I was brought up catholic. I have lived as a catholic. in a Catholic/Christian country that treated (and still do) women and children as inferior things, not worthy of listening to or in the case of children, of protecting. My aunt left Ireland with my 2 cousins because she was being physically abused by her husband. She went to the parish priest for help, he told her to stay with him because in the eyes of God she was bound to her husband eternally. And she had promised before God to obey her husband so shouldnt be trying to spread malicious gossip.
Luckily the family doctor told her to get the hell out before she was killed and thank God, she did.
My dad went to a Christian Brothers secondary school. He and many of his classmates were beaten within an inch of his life. And I'm not talking of the widespread corporal punishment that was rife everywhere in those days. I mean severe beatings beyond what was thought "acceptable" at the time.
I know people who went to England because they got pregnant to prevent the shame and the risk of going into a home for unmarried mothers. (Magdalene anyone?) and this was in the early 80s.
I do not think of myself as catholic. I would not associate myself with a church or any organised religion for that matter that has behaved as the catholic church has.
Its ridiculously rich, yet there are people starving all over the world. It sends missionaries everywhere to spread the word of God and the catholic way to poverty stricken people that know no different.

So, No, I don't feel sad/disappointed that someone who thinks it ok to cover up child abuse has resigned because he is old and feeble.

[inadreamworld]

If you believe the prophecies of St Malachy the next Pope will be the last and the Vatican will be destroyed/attacked

www.catholic-pages.com/grabbag/malachy.asp

It does seem that many of the previous Popes have been what St Malachy described them as so...who knows....there could be something in it?

[Animation]

"My reaction? This was a man with knowledge of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church since at least 1981, who did absolutely nothing about it except prolong the cover-up."

Olgaga - Yes, because of this there was something unethical about him. I couldn't warm to him.

[grants1000]

What made me smile is the month's notice, does not seem a lot for such a big job, most places I've worked want 3 months notice and I held no such position of power and authority?

Perhaps he's just so old and worn out!

[GrimmaTheNome]

Perhaps he's just so old and worn out!
really that is most likely to be it. Elderly people can go downhill quite fast - physically or mentally.

[CarlingBlackMabel]

Why did anyone think it sensible in the first place that someone with HUGE power and influence should be allowed to stay in situ without regard for general altertness and compos mentis level? Utterly ridiculous that the position should have no regard for the incumbent's competence to undertake the role once old age or other infimity takes hold.

Unfortunately it meant we had to listen to Cormac McMurphy for huge swathes of R4 yesterday afternoon .

What's the big issue? There'll be a new one, hopefully with a bit more C21st regard for health, quality of earthly life, equality, and justice.

The Vatican needs to get real.

[GrimmaTheNome]

The Vatican needs to get real.

Now there's a novel concept....it has to be one of the most unreal places on Earth.

[rockybambi]

I didn't realise being a pope was a job that you could resign from. I thought it was a calling. Still, presumably its Gods will that he resigns (not that he just can't be arsed now he's an old bloke)
Good luck to the new Pope; with the Old Pope still knocking about it'll be hard for him to have the gravitas needed in his new role.

[RedToothBrush]

Erm those prophecies on that link are tenious at best. With people trying to find something to fit rather than it being obvious. It seems the prophecy is pretty much a nickname. It also says that there is nothing to say there isn't a pile of Popes in between the second to last and the Last...

Even the article said it struggled to work out why the present Pope would be 'Glory of the Olives'. They make the connection that the symbol of Benedictine Order is Olives but didn't know why he would be 'Glory of'.

The last prophecy says
"In the extreme persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit. Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The end."

There's dispute about whether the line about persecution relates to Glory of the Olives or Peter the Roman or stands on its own.

And if you look at the potential candidates on the BBC website, 'Peter the Roman' could easily be applied to:
Christoper Schoenborn, Austria
The son of a Bohemian count, he was born in 1945 to a family with a long history of high office in the Catholic church and the Holy Roman Empire.

Peter Turkson, Ghana
Fairly obvious...

And a fair few of the others lived and studied in Rome before becoming higher up in the church...

Tenious. At best.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Tenuous at best, or more likely, as with all 'prophesies' a complete load of codswallop

[grammye]

I was stunned to hear that Pope Benedict was to resign.
I wonder if this will set a new precedent,for future Popes.

[IndiaJade]

New Pope - same shit, different bucket.

[MerlinScot]

"when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed"

The millions of Romans should be warned though LOL
The city of Seven Hills is Rome, not the Vatican. Vatican city/state is a ridiculous two-square-mile country full of priests and cardinals, nothing to do with the rest of the city......
Although, given that it is also where the Italian Parliament is, it would be appropriate to see all of them erased from the face of Earth hehehe

[fedupwithdeployment]

Maybe it is my fault....I came to Rome on business yesterday expecting a little Spring sunshine...the heavens opened, there was a MASSIVE storm, and the Pope resigned.

I hear from someone here that he knows someone who knows someone....who actually knows that the Pope is seriously ill with cancer. I have no idea whether there is any truth in this at all. I suspect it is speculation and nothing more.

[emeraldy]

I heard on the grapevine that they have a replacement lined up already

www.flickr.com/photos/14168920@N00/231761760/

[edam]

@ cheggers. Someone on FBK sent me a 'Tim Minchin for Pope' message - his song about the papacy is v. funny.

If he is seriously ill, he must be worried about meeting his maker. Given what Christ said about the fate that awaits those who harm the vulnerable, especially children...

[GrimmaTheNome]

The city of Seven Hills is Rome, not the Vatican.
The Seven Hills are all the other side of the Tiber from the Vatican.

There's lots of seven-hilled cities . (even a Zevenbergen in the Netherlands!) Maybe God's got it in for one of those ...Brussels perhaps?

[sieglinde]

He's actually done a lot as Pope to apologise for child sex abuse, far more than his predecessor JP II. Of course he hasn't done enough to appease his opponents or compensate the victims - though it's hard to see what WOULD work here, but he's the head of a large conservative institution, and he's done more than my large conservative institution (Oxford University) to atone for the past, in that at least he's admitted that there's a lot wrong and he issued an apology, and ousted one of the key perpetrators.

He also made a moderate, fairly lenient statement about condom use in marriage. I think it's VERY unrealistic to expect a huge, quick U-turn form him or his successor, because big institutions move in small increments. He has to take people with him.

I think he's done what he can. He's clearly very shy, scholarly, not a fighter, but a decent and kinda sad guy. I wish him well. I valued him for his intelligent spiritual take on what it means to be RC. I don't expect everyone - anyone?- to share my views, but thought an RC take might be interesting....

[MerlinScot]

Yeah Grimma, but they're not in the Vatican State. That's Italy.
Maybe that saint had a grudge against all Italians or maybe the Pope was Italian at that time LOL

Rome's nickname is the City of the Seven Hills because it was founded on them (so the legend says), therefore the reference to that particular city and not the other seven-hilled cities...