Reports that Pope is going to resign...

Bannasidhe

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/world/pope-benedict-to-resign--reports-584358.html

Nothing but media reports yet...

Wonder what all that is about?

fatmammycat

Bannasidhe wrote: »

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/world/pope-benedict-to-resign--reports-584358.html

Nothing but media reports yet...

Wonder what all that is about?

Heh, snap!

Beeker

Good riddance!

seamus

Confirmed by the Vatican:

http://www.thejournal.ie/pope-resigning-790841-Feb2013/

A little disappointed. He's a such a backwards aul prick that he was doing more to turn people away from the the church than any secular campaign.

robindch

And the Beeb:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-21411304

eviltwin

Just heard that, thought it was a wind up. :eek: Any speculation as to the reason?

seamus

Too weak to continue apparently.

Funny, I thought that the Pope stayed in place until death, like a monarch. The speculation will start now that he was pushed...

runawaybishop

Too old for the job, fancy that.

GLaDOS

seamus wrote: »

Funny, I thought that the Pope stayed in place until death, like a monarch. The speculation will start now that he was pushed...

Thought that myself, has this ever happened before?

blastman

They'll probably get some 70-year old whippersnapper in to replace him....hmmph!

blastman

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Thought that myself, has this ever happened before?

Yes, apparently the last one was around 1415, though. A previous Pope Benedict resigned in 1045.

Zillah

So Darth Vader takes over now, right?

Bannasidhe

seamus wrote: »

Too weak to continue apparently.

Funny, I thought that the Pope stayed in place until death, like a monarch. The speculation will start now that he was pushed...

1417 was the last time one resigned. The RCC claim it was 1294 but that's because they are embarrassed about the Great Schism when there were 3 Popes at the same time...

List of Popes who resigned here: http://atheism.about.com/od/popesandthepapacy/a/resignations_2.htm

7 in total, interesting one of them was also a Benny - Boomerang Benny would be more appropriate

Benedict IX easily had the most confusing pontificate in history. He served as pope three times: he was elected, ejected, returned, abdicated, deposed, returned again, ejected again, and eventually excommunicated. Presumably at least one of his resignations may have been canonically valid, possibly even two.

robindch

Live:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21409149

seamus

Speculation around the office here is that someone was on the verge of exposing Benny's wife and family in the U.S. if he didn't resign.

Not entirely unbelievable...

Beruthiel

seamus wrote: »

The speculation will start now that he was pushed...

I'm going with a scandal of grandiose magnitude!

Bannasidhe

Beruthiel wrote: »

I'm going with a scandal of grandiose magnitude!

*rushes to shop to stockpile popcorn*

kiffer

seamus wrote: »

Confirmed by the Vatican:

http://www.thejournal.ie/pope-resigning-790841-Feb2013/

A little disappointed. He's a such a backwards aul prick that he was doing more to turn people away from the the church than any secular campaign.

While an old conservative Pope pushes people away he makes the remaining body even more dangerous. The harder a line the Church takes on abortion, condoms, equal rights and so on the worse it is for everyone.
A young liberal pope would be great. Even if he's not liberal enough he makes it easier for the next one to be even more liberal. Or for the next one to be super conservative and clamp down hard... driving more away... but at least in the mean time we'd have time to deal with some of the problems they are interfering with.

robindch

kiffer wrote: »

A young liberal pope would be great.

Whatever about young, a liberal pope is unlikely -- Ratzinger has been stuffing the ranks of cardinals with conservatives for years.

lazygal

I also think a lot of the younger priests seem to be a lot more hardline and conservative than the post Vatican II ones. I was shocked (maybe not the right word) at a wedding a year or two ago when a young enough priest, early 40s I'd say, said several times at the wedding of friends how good it was to choose a church wedding over a less 'meaningful' quick civil ceremony and how people should cherish the marriages of Catholics more and more as people fall away and choose 'function room ceremonies'. Really a very insulting attitude.

iDave

The church wont be out of the news for the next few weeks, queue a wave of interest in the organisation, crowds in the Vatrican, nuns with rosary beeds on TV. Prepare to be nauseated

Penn

Wow. Maybe he read what people were saying to him on Twitter...

A shame though. I liked referring to the Pope as a Nazi. Probably won't get that with the next Pope.

runawaybishop

Father Ted springs to mind

Pope Benedict XVI: I have some news.
Father Dougal: You're getting married?

pauldla

Ringo Starr would make an excellent Pope, I always thought.

DazMarz

Always two, there are. A master and an apprentice...

Usually the Rule of Two that the Sith adhere to means that the apprentice slays the master...

Just following on from a previous post... :P

Hunterbiker

I heard he just wanted Sunday's off...

robindch

The reason given:

Herr Ratzinger wrote:

"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."

kylith

I reckon it finally got through to the RCC hierarchy exactly how bad Ratzinger was making them look, with his abuse cover up letters, calling the ordination of women a greater sin than pederasty, etc.

Good riddance to him.


Anyone know what happens to him now? Is he demoted back to cardinal, or do they just ship him off to an old popes' home?

Penn

Next Pope: We must do what we can to heal the church, to bring people back, and modernise the church.
Reporter: How do you plan on doing that?
Next Pope: By changing absolutely nothing. We're still right about everything.

SebBerkovich

DazMarz wrote: »

Always two, there are. A master and an apprentice...

Usually the Rule of Two that the Sith adhere to means that the apprentice slays the master...

Just following on from a previous post... :P

8 years of a sith overloard was enough for me,

JAR-JAR FOR POPE!

Dades

Should be a few column inches in this story, methinks.

The BBC feed keeps showing him being pushed around in what can only be described as the Papal Shopping Trolley. Awesome.

Nolimits

seamus wrote: »

Speculation around the office here is that someone was on the verge of exposing Benny's wife and family in the U.S. if he didn't resign.

Not entirely unbelievable...

Once you stick the "if he doesn't resign" part in you could say anything in fairness safe in the knowledge that it won't come out. For that reason the above sounds like crap to me, would love to know the real reason though and mayber we will soon.

intellectual dosser

They've been piping on about modernizing the church and reaching out to young people, therefore they should run the conclave as some big X Factor style reality TV show.

Banbh

Oh no! There'll be no keeping John Waters, David Quinn and Breda O'Brien off the telly now.

plannerscanner

From what I gather Ratzinger is very much a pragmatist. If he does not have the capacity to address world events within days then he is of no use to the RCC. This is no longer the 15th C when good christians wait around for months for a Papal Bull. Good to see him gone and if the RCC is to grow and develop some compassion then here's looking forward to a more liberal, understanding Pope

fitz0

John Waters for Pope?

Or maybe someone ethnic.

Zillah

Dades wrote: »

Should be a few column inches in this story, methinks.

The BBC feed keeps showing him being pushed around in what can only be described as the Papal Shopping Trolley. Awesome.

They're a parody of themselves.

krudler

intellectual dosser wrote: »

They've been piping on about modernizing the church and reaching out to young people, therefore they should run the conclave as some big X Factor style reality TV show.

Italy's Got Infallibility

Penn

fitz0 wrote: »

John Waters for Pope?

Or maybe someone ethnic.

I think someone with "not completely grey" hair would be about as ethnic as they'll get.

seamus

Penn wrote: »

I think someone with "not completely grey" hair would be about as ethnic as they'll get.

Paddy Power have a Ghanan (grey-haired!) Cardinal as running favourite.

kiffer

robindch wrote: »

Whatever about young, a liberal pope is unlikely -- Ratzinger has been stuffing the ranks of cardinals with conservatives for years.

True... but maybe we'll get a miracle and there's a stealth liberal in the wings.
He's spent years hiding the fact that he's actually a compassionate human being just so that he can rise to power and use the money the Church has been squirreling away for good rather than for gold plated shoes and chairs...

Like some sort of anti-psychopath...

iDave

Penn wrote: »

I think someone with "not completely grey" hair would be about as ethnic as they'll get.

The new guy could use Just For Men. Which also works as a Di vinci-esque undertone for the gender balance within the organisation

Curly Judge

lazygal wrote: »

I also think a lot of the younger priests seem to be a lot more hardline and conservative than the post Vatican II ones. I was shocked (maybe not the right word) at a wedding a year or two ago when a young enough priest, early 40s I'd say, said several times at the wedding of friends how good it was to choose a church wedding over a less 'meaningful' quick civil ceremony and how people should cherish the marriages of Catholics more and more as people fall away and choose 'function room ceremonies'. Really a very insulting attitude.

Not really!
No more insulting than the manager of Dunnes Stores giving out about Tesco?
At the end of the day it's about a turf war. Simple as!

Bannasidhe

Penn wrote: »

I think someone with "not completely grey" hair would be about as ethnic as they'll get.

They are still coming to terms with having a pope who isn't Italian.

First one was English Adrian in the 12th century with a 455 year wait for the Polish Karol Wojtyła who was followed by the current German...non-Italian popes are like buses...

Bannasidhe

Curly Judge wrote: »

[/B]


Not really!
No more insulting than the manager of Dunnes Stores giving out about Tesco?
At the end of the day it's about a turf war. Simple as!

Then let them take out an ad and not use someones wedding as an opportunity for a bit of PR.

DazMarz

Last one, I swear!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv9G9rwWihg

eviltwin

Maybe those gay rumors were true after all

Bannasidhe

intellectual dosser wrote: »

They've been piping on about modernizing the church and reaching out to young people, therefore they should run the conclave as some big X Factor style reality TV show.

Bannasidhe

eviltwin wrote: »

Maybe those gay rumors were true after all

Well the other Benny who resigned was openly gay...

Doctor Strange

So the reign of Pope Vader is impending?

Also, good riddance to bad rubbish. A rotten person with worse beliefs. Though he probably did wonders in convincing people to turn from the church.

magicbastarder

since the incoming pope traditionally eats the heart of his predecessor at his swearing-in ceremony, this could get interesting.