The Pope resigns

[Tiriol]

Pope Benedict XVI resigns, as reported by Sky News.

Pope Benedict Resigns, Vatican Confirms
11:07am UK, Monday 11 February 2013

Pope Benedict XVI is to resign on February 28, the Vatican has announced.

The leader of the Catholic Church will step down after almost eight years in the post, having been elected in April 2005.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said: "The pope announced that he will leave his ministry at 8:00pm (7pm UK time) on February 28."

He will become the first pope to resign in centuries.

Edward Pentin, from the Catholic Herald, told Sky News: "It really is too early to say what his greatest achievement has been."

Is Benedict how ill of health? Or did he simply get fed up with people constantly calling him a Nazi?

[Crazedwraith]

I didn't even know Popes could resign. I mean what with the appointed by God conceit they have going on?

[Crossroads Inc.]

If you think your going to die soon, well, thats part of being a Pope right?
I mean, you can't exactly say "I want to spend time with my family" either..

UPDATES from the following: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/fe ... e-reaction

The pope announced his decision in Latin this morning during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, informing them of "a decision of great importance for the life of the church".

According to a statement released by the Vatican, Benedict, who is 85, said he was resigning due his age and declining strength.

Benedict, who became the 265th Pope in 2005, is known to suffer from arthritis, particularly in his knees, hips and ankles.

He had been due to travel to Brazil - the largest Catholic country in the world - in July for a youth festival, but concerns had been raised privately among Vatican observers about whether his health would be strong enough.

So in otherwords he is being a pussy.

[Spekio]

I hope his death follows soon.

I didn't even know Popes could resign. I mean what with the appointed by God conceit they have going on?

He is the pope. He is infallible.

[weemadando]

Pope's have resigned numerous times in the past. Only recently have they been on a streak of dying in office.

And I imagine it's ill health, such as alzheimers or dementia that will prevent him from executing his duties.

Or maybe someone finally found the skeleton(s) in his closet.

[Z-Ha-Dum]

We're going to hear that Malachi prophecy again. Apocalyptic Catholics will get jittery.

[tim31]

This just seems huge because JP2 was in office for so long

Historically though, it's still exciting. Hopefully Opus Dei get their man in power and clean up Dan Brown once and for all

[LaCroix]

I wonder how the proceedings will go? Will the Conclave convene the day after? I mean, they do have two weeks time to assemble them, and no mourning period necessary, as he might not be dead by then.

All in all, I think I can respect his decision to step down and let somebody else do the job, instead of sprouting binding senile gibberish for as long as he can hold on.

[hongi]

I hope his death follows soon.

Wow, really?

[AniThyng]

I hope his death follows soon.

Wow, really?

You've been here long enough, how can you possibly be surprised...

Though I think if he's resigning because he's old and tired, on that basis alone I can't fault him, he is only human after all.

[Dalton]

Great, my second time covering a conclave. At least it won't be as nuts as the first.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Pope's have resigned numerous times in the past. Only recently have they been on a streak of dying in office.\

Near as I've been able to tell, the last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII. Just a few years shy of six hundred years ago. That's hardly "recent".

[Sea Skimmer]

He only resigned to put an end to the Church having two popes as well, as he occupied the seat that was clearly the illegitimate one. This could mark a serious change to the Papacy, though perhaps not simply because he may be seen as having been in the job too little time to be credible.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

So in otherwords he is being a pussy.

Or he knows that he'll die soon, and he isn't keen on taxing his body to hurry up, Heaven or not.

[Spekio]

Wow, really?

I have nothing but contemp for the man. And hopefully, if what he believes is true, that he gets raped by two devils in hell.

[Siege]

As I recall Ratzinger wasn't very eager to take up the papacy to begin with, he's 85 years old now and the last scandal-filled years can't have been easy on him. Between sexual abuse, eucumenical PR blunders and more recently corruption cases like 'Vatileaks' and the money-laundering business, he may just have figured it was better to step down now and let somebody younger and more healthy take up the mantle. I suspect he'll go back to Regensburg to live with his brother, which he's said was his retirement plan before the Conclave picked him to be pope.

[Spekio]

So now we know: it’s too exhausting trying to cover up child abuse scandals, making life hell for gay people, going on Twitter, and promoting false/harmful doctrine all at once. - Hehmant Mehta

[Themightytom]

he was terrible at being Pope, I think he knows it, and is finally being honest about it. With the whole Butler scandal it seemed like shit was going on under his nose that he was unwilling to acknowledge was happening, which is not an unfair comparison to the entire Church abuse scandal in the first place. His little inquisition against the nuns was fantastically poor leadership, and his stubborn adherence to baseless dogma is at odds with his own insights into the history of the church.

How does the guy who writes a book on the "true nativity" also be the guy who maintains that homosexuals are contrary to the Church's teachings, or that women can't be priests, because quantum? I think we're looking at a librarian coming to grips with the real world, which tied up in his religious beliefs is too much for him to handle. That's why he's resigning, he's not being a possy per se, he couldn't handle the job in the first place. I mean I don't want him to die, I want him to fade to irrelevance and leave the Church alone, but he won't, I'm laying odds right now that either his successor is a sock puppet, or the second he steps out of line, we're gonna hear grumbling from the papal retirement home.

[Gandalf]

I remember when JPII dropped, and Ratzinger was the most probable next guy. Is there another old white guy poised to gain the potential power of infallibility?

[Broomstick]

Well, since women are out of the running entirely, and the prior 250+ selections have all been white, yeah, I'm pretty certain the next one will also be an old white guy.

[Themightytom]

Well, since women are out of the running entirely, and the prior 250+ selections have all been white, yeah, I'm pretty certain the next one will also be an old white guy.

Still... I think I'll start a meme claiming Obama is being considered for the papacy and see how far it gets...

[Gandalf]

Well, since women are out of the running entirely, and the prior 250+ selections have all been white, yeah, I'm pretty certain the next one will also be an old white guy.

I think you missed my point. It's pretty certain that it'll be an old white guy, but I was curious as to whether or not there's someone already poised to win Vatican Idol. JPII was running out the clock in such a way that everyone saw it coming, and could plan accordingly. I'm wondering how much total notice people had for this whole incident.

[Siege]

There's a bunch of papabiles right now. A few Italians like the arch-bishop of Milan, there's Cardinal Sandri who is Italian-Argentine and I think he used to be a diplomat, and a couple other Latin-Americans too. So who knows, it might not be a white guy this time. I wouldn't hold my breath for a big reformer though.

Also, the Conclave is probably going to last quite a bit longer than it did in '05. JPII had made it so that from the 35th round of votes onward half of the votes plus one was enough to be elected pope so Ratzinger could get in after two days with the backing of slightly over half of the voting Cardinals, but in '07 he reversed Conclave rules to the previous standard, that being that it always takes 2/3rds of the vote to be elected no matter how long it takes.

[loomer]

I wonder if he's developing dementia and doesn't want to bring that to the office, or state it publically. I can't see arthritis being a reason.

[Gil Hamilton]

He only resigned to put an end to the Church having two popes as well, as he occupied the seat that was clearly the illegitimate one. This could mark a serious change to the Papacy, though perhaps not simply because he may be seen as having been in the job too little time to be credible.

Well, the average reign for a pope is seven years, and he's been in eight, so that isn't it. What's weird is retiring due to "advanced age" and general infirmity, which IS weird for a Pope. The guy was 78 when he took the job, after all and no Pope has ever resigned for health reasons; look at Pope John Paul II, who was so up to his eyeballs in Parkinson's that he could barely talk and couldn't walk at all, and was still out there as much as he was physically able. Not only that, he actually refused medical treatment specifically so that he could die in the Vatican.

So, the reasons they are giving for Pope Benedict stepping down are pretty euphemistic. Either he's starting to go downhill mentally to the point where senile dementia makes it impossible and embarrassing for him to be in public (which is what I think, the man is 85) or in the next few days, a truly appalling scandal is about to hit that the Catholic Church knows that there is no way for them to deal with except for the Pope to resign in disgrace, rather than voluntarily.