Pope Benedict XVI to resign...........

[BubbleGumTiger]

Announcement made this morning


VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign Feb. 28 — the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March.

The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning.

He emphasized that carrying out the duties of being pope — the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide — requires "both strength of mind and body."

"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry," he told the cardinals. "I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only by words and deeds but no less with prayer and suffering.

"However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary — strengths which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

Benedict called his choice "a decision of great importance for the life of the church."

The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn't have to be observed.

There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner — the same situation when Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.

[BubbleGumTiger]

seems to be a hotter topic than Obamacare this morning..............

[BubbleGumTiger]

ttt

[kantuckyII]

I got to wondering so I looked it up, he's the first Pope to retire since since 1415. Only six Popes have ever retired. It will be interesting to see if the next Pope brings church discipline back.

[farmer]

Sure takes a lot of courage for him to make this choice. He makes the right choice. As he puts the church above himself. So that it can stay strong with all the is going on in the world.

[kantuckyII]

This article is two years old but I thought it was very interesting

Will the Pope Resign? It Wouldn't Be Easy, and May Not Be Possible


Continuing revelations about cases of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy are raising more questions about what Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, did -- or did not do -- about them, both as Archbishop of Munich (1977-1982) and for nearly 24 years as the Vatican's chief guardian of doctrine.

That has left many wondering if this is the Catholic Church's version of Watergate -- and if it could end the same way. (Richard Nixon, raised a Quaker, once mused that he'd have made a good pope, and as things worked out for him, you could understand that wish.) As things stand now, and under almost any imaginable scenario, Benedict is not about to resign. Some say he can't.

Here are some of the most common questions -- and answers -- about this controversial issue:

Have popes resigned before?

Yes, but not for a long time, and it was never pretty.

"The last time papal depositions and resignations occurred was during the Great Western Schism of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries when three papal lines competed," Kean University church historian Christopher Bellitto writes in his book, "101 Questions and Answers on Popes and the Papacy." Pope Gregory XII of the Roman line issued his resignation at the Council of Constance through his delegates there, Bellitto says, and then the council deposed the two other rival popes, allowing for the election of a single, legitimate pope.

Before that, the most famous papal resignation came in 1294, when an elderly Italian hermit had been elected Pope Celestine V, against his will. Celestine issued two major decrees, one providing for the abdication of a pope, and five months after his election he did just that. But subsequent popes should take note: Celestine's successor, Pope Boniface VIII, imprisoned the poor old man, and he died 10 months later. A few years after that, Dante wrote the "Divine Comedy" and put Celestine in the Inferno, just inside the gate of hell for what was called his "great refusal" to take on the burden of the papal office.

Can a pope resign today?

Sort of. While a president can resign for all sorts of reasons, from ill health to scandal, popes do not. Some say they cannot. The relevant clause in the most recent (1983) version of the church's Code of Canon Law (332:2) states:
"If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone."
Huh? Bellitto explains: "At first glance, this last part might seem odd, but we can fairly ask: who would receive a papal resignation? As with the issue of papal incapacitation, one imagines that the camerlengo, the college of cardinals or its dean, or perhaps the pope's vicar for the diocese of Rome would play a role in the case of a papal resignation, but nothing is set in policy on this question."

And that means nothing is certain. Pius XII, the pope during World War II, reportedly left a document stating that if he were taken prisoner by Hitler he should no longer be considered the Roman pontiff.

What if a pope becomes incapacitated physically or mentally?

In more recent times, popes worry less about becoming POWs than they do about becoming incapacitated by disease or senility. As Canon 187 states, a cleric resigning from an office must be of sound mind.

So, some popes have considered leaving a letter, much like a papal power of attorney note. But no one is sure if it would be valid or recognized. John Paul II thought about leaving a letter but decided against it. No one knows whether Benedict has left such a letter, or who would be responsible for executing its provisions, or whether they would be considered legitimate.

"Prior to the 19th century, this was less of a problem because [the] role of the papacy was more limited and because doctors were more likely to kill a person with their care than keep him alive," says Father Thomas Reese, an expert on Vatican politics and history at Georgetown's Woodstock Center. "The ability of modern medicine to keep the body alive while the mind is deteriorating will eventually present the church with a constitutional crisis. Although the church has traditionally taught that extraordinary means need not be used to keep alive a dying patient, John Paul II taught that a person in persistent vegetative state must be kept alive with fluids and nutrition. This could lead to an incapacitated pope in place for many years."

In earlier centuries, in fact, medieval canonists argued that if the pope became mentally disabled, "he could no longer function as a human being and should be treated as if he were dead," Father James Provost, an expert in canon law, once wrote. "More recent scholars have argued that the Holy Spirit would never let such a situation happen, although that seems a weak argument in light of the precedent of Urban VI (pope from 1378 to 1389), whose serious emotional or mental disturbances led the cardinals to exercise the option of electing another pope."

Above all, popes are very wary about doing anything that would seem to turn the papacy into just another ecclesiastical office.

As Pope Paul VI said, paternity cannot be resigned -- referring to his role as the Holy Father. (On the other hand, it was Paul VI who in 1966 set the mandatory retirement age for bishops at 75, and he later ruled that cardinals would lose their right to vote in a conclave when they turned 80.) So popes go on and on. Many see this as a crisis waiting to happen, given that at some point a pope -- Benedict turns 83 on April 16 -- will suffer a debilitating stroke or succumb to Alzheimer's disease or something similar, and by then it will be too late to consult them on what to do.

How would the cardinals elect another pope?

There is no vice-pope or automatic succession -- no 25th Amendment as there is in the U.S. Constitution -- so if and when a pope's resignation were confirmed the process would presumably follow much the same method that is now used to elect a successor after a pope dies.

All of the world's cardinal-electors -- that is, cardinals under the age of 80, who number about 109 right now -- would gather in Rome for meetings and consultations and would then cast ballots in the Sistine Chapel until one of their number receives a two-thirds plus one supermajority. When he signals his acceptance of the election, that cardinal would then be the new pope.

What would happen to the former pope?

That is a crucial problem. "There cannot be an 'emeritus pope'," John Paul II once said. With a living pope in retirement, some cardinal-electors may not feel as free to vote as they would if the previous pope were dead. The existence of a "retired" pope would also open the sacred process to suspicions of that ex-pontiff trying in some way to influence the election of his successor. That is far-fetched, but you only have to look at the wild success of Dan Brown's novels to see how easily such conspiracy theories can take hold of the popular imagination.

The other problem is that many Catholics might well consider the "former" pope the real pope, especially if he were an enormously popular figure, as John Paul II was. That could lead to a crisis of legitimacy, and a schism, which is the church's nightmare scenario.

[kantuckyII]

Another interesting article on this historic event

On Feb. 28, Pope Benedict XVI will become the first pope to resign in almost 600 years. That's not just tradition it's dogma. The Washington Post's Debbi Wilgoren cited a theological expert in explaining, "Most modern popes have felt that resignation is unacceptable except in cases of an incurable or debilitating disease — that paternity, in the words of Paul IV, cannot be resigned."

But Benedict XVI's shocking resignation is even more curious when compared to the handful of others who have left the powerful office willingly. In the past 1000 years, only four other popes have resigned. Here are their unusual stories, which are also an indication of just how much the church has changed.

Pope Benedict IX, in 1045: At age 33 and about 10 years into his tumultuous term, the Rome-born pope resigned so that he could get married and to collect some cash from his godfather, also Roman, who paid Benedict IX to step down so that he might replace him.

Pope Gregory VI, in 1046: The same man who had bribed and replaced his godson ended up leaving the office himself only a year later. The trouble began when Benedict IX failed to secure the bride he'd resigned for, leading him to change his mind and return to the Vatican. Both popes remained in the city, both claiming to rule the Catholic church, for several months. That fall, the increasingly despondent clergy called on the German Emperor Henry III, of the Holy Roman Empire, to invade Rome and remove them both. When Henry III arrived, he treated Gregory VI as the rightful pope but urged him to stand before a council of fellow church leaders. The bishops urged Gregory VI to resign for bribing his way into office. Though the fresh new pope argued that he had done nothing wrong in buying the Papacy, he stepped down anyway.

Pope Celestine V, in 1294: After only five months in office, the somber Sicilian pope formally decreed that popes now had the right to resign, which he immediately used. He wrote, referring to himself in the third person, that he had resigned out of "the desire for humility, for a purer life, for a stainless conscience, the deficiencies of his own physical strength, his ignorance, the perverseness of the people, his longing for the tranquility of his former life." He became a hermit, but two years later was dragged out of solitude by his successor, who locked him up in an Italian castle. Celestine died 10 months later.

Pope Gregory XII, in 1415: The elderly Venetian had held the office for 10 years, but he was not the only pope. For decades, the Western Schism had left Europe with two popes, one in Rome and one in the French city of Avignon. The schism's causes were political rather than theological: the pope had tremendous power over European politics, which had led its kings to become gradually more aggressive in manipulating the church's leaders. Gregory XII resigned so that a special council in Constance, which is today a German city, could excommunicate the Avignon-based pope and start fresh with a new, single leader of the Catholic church.

Pope Benedict XVI, in 2013: Citing health reasons from old age, he announced today that he will step down on Feb. 28.

[LucasJackson]

Questions:
Does he become Pope Emaritus? (sp)
Does he take his real name back now?
What happens to him?

[BubbleGumTiger]

Questions:
Does he become Pope Emaritus? (sp)
Does he take his real name back now?
What happens to him?

I would give this assignment to the 2 experts on this forum and let them research it......as they seem to be the experts on Obama and all his faults maybe they could come up with the right answers..............

[Kentucky Trojan]

Questions:
Does he become Pope Emaritus? (sp)
Does he take his real name back now?
What happens to him?

I would give this assignment to the 2 experts on this forum and let them research it......as they seem to be the experts on Obama and all his faults maybe they could come up with the right answers..............

maybe you could take it to your drinking buddies and when you get an answer send up a puff of white smoke so that we know you have the answers???

[Kentucky Trojan]

Questions:
Does he become Pope Emaritus? (sp)
Does he take his real name back now?
What happens to him?

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com ... s-101.html

Shortly after Benedict XVI announced his resignation as Roman pontiff, effective 28 February, the following clarification on the future status of the first Pope to retire in six centuries was issued by the lead Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi:

Pope Benedict XVI has given his resignation freely, in accordance with Canon 332 §2 of the Code of Canon Law.

Pope Benedict XVI will not take part in the Conclave for the election of his successor.

Pope Benedict XVI will move to the Papal residence in Castel Gandolfo when his resignation shall become effective.

When renovation work on the monastery of cloistered nuns inside the Vatican is complete, the Holy Father will move there for a period of prayer and reflection.

As previously noted, canon law makes no provision whatsoever for the protocols and prerogatives of a retired Pope, so Benedict's preferences for his post-papacy will be setting an epochal precedent, both for the office and the life of the church it oversees.

[kantuckyII]

Turk sending out the puff of white smoke? LOL, (one of your best post ever!!

Was that a puff of white smoke that went up? No that was just an old fart letting off some prune juice based gas!

[BubbleGumTiger]

Questions:
Does he become Pope Emaritus? (sp)
Does he take his real name back now?
What happens to him?

I would give this assignment to the 2 experts on this forum and let them research it......as they seem to be the experts on Obama and all his faults maybe they could come up with the right answers..............

Hey Turk...maybe you could take it to your drinking buddies and when you get an answer send up a puff of white smoke so that we know you have the answers???

Hey .....every now and then you come up with a good idea........I will be heading to the daily staff meeting at 4:00 and I will bring the results back this evening..........

[BubbleGumTiger]

Turk sending out the puff of white smoke? LOL, (one of your best post ever!!

Was that a puff of white smoke that went up? No that was just an old fart letting off some prune juice based gas!

just think, if u still smoked that wacky baccy u used to smoke......you could let off a few puffs of white smoke yourself........

glad to see u have a teammate now to help u out.....it must be tuff hating the President all by yourself......

[kantuckyII]

Why are you so mean to me Turk? You know, one day, you will retire too and when your successor is named they will put out a puff of white smoke over the trailer court announcing a new mayor has been named.

By the way, I am not stupid. I see you buddy up to KT as you would like to divide and conquer. You are trying to draw your enemies closer. That is age old wisdom keep your friends close and your enemies closer

[kantuckyII]

And by the way my good buddy Turk, is there any truth to the rumor claiming that you have been called to the Vatican as a consultant?

[BubbleGumTiger]

And by the way my good buddy Turk, is there any truth to the rumor claiming that you have been called to the Vatican as a consultant?

strictly a rumor.........the only thing they consult me on is the wine list for the party after the white smoke goes up the pipe........

[kantuckyII]

Well, at least you know you're a very important man!

[BubbleGumTiger]

Who will succeed Pope Benedict..



VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI's resignation opens the door to an array of possible successors, from the conservative cardinal of Milan to a contender from Ghana and several Latin Americans. But don't count on a radical change of course for the Catholic Church: Benedict appointed the majority of cardinals who will choose his successor from within their own ranks.

There's no clear front-runner, though several leading candidates have been mentioned over the years as "papabile" — or having the qualities of a pope.

So, will the papacy return to Italy, after three decades of a Polish and a German pope? Or does Latin America, which counts some 40 percent of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, deserve one of their own at the church's helm?

Will a younger cardinal be considered, now that future popes can feel freer to resign? Or will it again go to an experienced cardinal for another "transitional" papacy?

The 110-plus cardinals who are under age 80 and eligible to vote will weigh all those questions and more when they sequester themselves in the Sistine Chapel next month to choose Benedict's successor, a conclave that will likely produce a new pope by Easter.

Some said Benedict's resignation presents an opportunity to turn to Africa or Latin America, where Catholicism is more vibrant.

"Europe today is going through a period of cultural tiredness, exhaustion, which is reflected in the way Christianity is lived," said Monsignor Antonio Marto, the bishop of Fatima in central Portugal. "You don't see that in Africa or Latin America, where there is a freshness, an enthusiasm about living the faith."

"Perhaps we need a pope who can look beyond Europe and bring to the entire church a certain vitality that is seen on other continents."

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of South Africa agreed.

"I think we would have a better chance of getting someone outside of the Northern hemisphere this time, because there are some really promising cardinals from other parts of the world," he said.

Despite that enthusiasm, more than half of those eligible to vote in the College of Cardinals hail from Europe, giving the continent an edge even though there's no rule that cardinals vote according to their geographic blocs.

It's also likely the next pope won't radically alter the church's course, though surprises are possible.

"Given the preponderance of cardinals appointed by popes John Paul and Benedict, it is unlikely that the next pope will make many radical changes," said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit author. "On the other hand, the papacy can change a man, and the Holy Spirit is always ready to surprise."

A handful of Italians fit the bill, top among them Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan. Scola is close to Benedict, has a fierce intellect and leads the most important archdiocese in Italy — no small thing given that Italians still dominate the College of Cardinals.

On Monday, Scola, 71, donned his bishops' miter and appeared in Milan's Duomo to praise Benedict's "absolutely extraordinary faith and humility."

"This decision, even though it fills us with surprise — and at first glance it leaves us with many questions — will be, as he said, for the good of the church," Scola said.

Other leading Italians include Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican's culture office and another intellectual heavyweight who quotes Hegel and Neitzsche as easily, and almost as frequently, as the Gospels. He has climbed into the spotlight with his "Courtyard of the Gentiles" project, an initiative to enter into dialogue with the worlds of art, culture and science — and most importantly atheists.

Veteran Vatican analyst John Allen Jr. has labled the 70-year-old Ravasi as quite possibly "the most interesting man in the church." Raising his profile further: Benedict appointed him to lead the Vatican's spiritual exercises during Lent, giving Ravasi a visible forum in the weeks leading up to the conclave.

Benedict's onetime theology student, Viennese Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, 68, has long been considered to have the stuff of a pope — multilingual, affable and, most importantly, Benedict's blessing.

He has been dealing, however, with a difficulties in Vienna, where a revolt of dissident priests has questioned church teachings on everything from women's ordination to celibacy for priests. His decision to let a gay Catholic serve on a parish council raised eyebrows among some conservatives, who said the move clearly sealed his fate as too liberal for today's College of Cardinals.

There are a handful of candidates from Latin America — and by Monday their backers were in full force touting their attributes.

"It's time for there to be a Latin American pope, because Latin America has the greatest number of Christians," said the Rev. Juan Angel Lopez, spokesman for the Catholic Church of Honduras. His man, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, however, is considered far too liberal to be elected by such a conservative bloc.

Leading Latin American possibilities include Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, the 63-year-old archbishop of Sao Paulo, and Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 69, head of the Vatican's office for Eastern rite churches. Sandri earned fame as the "voice" of Pope John Paul II when the pontiff lost the ability to speak because of his Parkinson's disease.

Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, 65, has earned praise as head of the Vatican's office for religious congregations, even though he's only held the job since 2011. He has had the difficult task of trying to rebuild trust between the Vatican and religious orders that broke down during his predecessor's reign.

His deputy took that effort too far in reaching out to U.S. nuns who were the subject of a Vatican doctrinal crackdown, and was subsequently sent back to the U.S.

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana is one of the highest-ranking African cardinals at the Vatican, currently heading the Vatican's office for justice and peace. But he is prone to gaffes, though, and is considered something of a wild card.

Cardinal Antonio Tagle, the archbishop of Manila, is a rising star in the church, but at at 56 and having only been named a cardinal last year, he is considered too young.

North America has a few candidates, though the Americans are considered longshots. These include Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Cardinal Raymond Burke, an arch-conservative and the Vatican's top judge.

Canadian Cardinal Marc Oeullet is a contender, earning the respect of his colleagues as head of the Vatican's office for bishops, a tough and important job vetting the world's bishops.

Michele Dillon, a University of New Hampshire sociologist who studies the church, said no "radical transformation" is expected in the direction of the church and that a "tweak" here and there would be more likely than an overhaul.

"The church obviously is well regarded for its continuity," Dillon said. "I'm not personally expecting a transformative change, but change is always possible."

[kantuckyII]

I know he's still awfully young but is there any truth to the rumor floating around about little baby Horace Henry being considered for the position?