The Pope Resigns

[Gothicshark]

[IMG ]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BC3zvDFCMAEFf60.jpg[/IMG]

(Disclaimer: This is just a joke, take a look at the picture, and laugh, its not my intention to offend anyone, and I actually respect the pope's decision to step down. Other popes have clinged to their title even when they clearly weren't fit for the many demands that come along with it. This guy is actually acknowledging that he's not all powerful and that its time to pass the torch. And even though I'm not catholic, I can respect someone who can recognize his own limits.)

It gave me a chuckle. And frankly since the Catholic Church has once again been given the opportunity to move into the 21th Century hopefully they pick some one who can do the job for a lot of years and realizes that the decisions of the Roman Catholic Church impact 1/3 of the worlds population. Many Catholic Nations Like Mexico have done a lot of things to remove Catholicism from any position of power.

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...065365166.html
or look up Mexico separation of church and state

[Slummish]

My money is on Alzheimer's disease.

[Deleted]

I've heard about this. If you see his pictures though, you can tell he's looking awfully weak. Kinda looks like Darth Vader without his helmet.

He's actually more like the emperor.

[lockedout]

My money is on Alzheimer's disease.

Wasn't he the guy in charge of all the pedophile priests cases while the last pope was in power?
I think he doesn't want to be questioned about that with all the new things coming to light.

[Belisarius565]

It gave me a chuckle. And frankly since the Catholic Church has once again been given the opportunity to move into the 21th Century hopefully they pick some one who can do the job for a lot of years and realizes that the decisions of the Roman Catholic Church impact 1/3 of the worlds population. Many Catholic Nations Like Mexico have done a lot of things to remove Catholicism from any position of power.

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...065365166.html
or look up Mexico separation of church and state

No no no, the Church needs to go back to the source, the bible and fix their problems that way. All this talk about accepting sinful behaviors is absurd (moving into the 21th Century, and being "progressive").

[Payday]

I'm an Agnostic...but Catholics tend to scare and worry me less then most other Religious groups....

You must not have young children.

[Deleted]

First time I've seen people cry hysterically over another man's decision to leave his job.

[Nayelie]

Me + Papa Benny in his Pope-mobile (+ random Spanish police lady) in 2011.

Was a great week that week.

I'd like to see a young and progressive pope.

I'd like to see a new pope come clean about the churches role and culpability in covering up for molestations.

I'd like to see a new pope rescind the silly rule forbidding priests from marrying. A rule instituted wholly to deprive clergy of a family during a time when priests and cardinals were made out of wealthy and influential families and the church did not want them to have children or wives for their property to pass down to after death.

I'd like to see a new pope allow women to be priests and stop the idea that women can at most hope to be a nun and never advance into their boys club.

I'd like to see the new pope reverse the church's stance on homosexuality being an abomination. I know it is in the bible. But 4 times more often that that they refer to eating shrimp as an abomination. And 5 times in the Bible they refer to unicorns. Lets stop with the literalist interpretation of an ancient text and get back to living up to the VALUES of the book.

I'd like to see the new pope return to the developing world as a friend like Paul did. Jesus ministered to the poor and needy for a reason and we have strayed from that path. Sure we do a lot of charitable works but we have still lost our way. We can improve.

I'd like to see the new pope be an open member of the world society. Not a king cloistered in his castle.

I'd like to see these things but as a long time Catholic I am VERY skeptical if I will ever see them.

Not gonna happen. You just named reasons that make Catholics, well, Catholic. The original Christianity and vastly unchanged in 2000 years.

Everyone crying out about the priest and little boys scandals, the Church is made up of a human body. And humans are in no way perfect. And they are dealt with, just not in public faces.

<3 Pope Benedict XVI was sweet and wonderful and a good follower of JPII, and prayers that the next one will also fill these great shoes

---------- Post added 2013-02-12 at 08:56 AM ----------

Blah blah blah

I could easily sit and be entertained by your avatar for a while. It's amazing.

[Reeve]

Me + Papa Benny in his Pope-mobile (+ random Spanish police lady) in 2011.

Was a great week that week.




Not gonna happen. You just named reasons that make Catholics, well, Catholic. The original Christianity and vastly unchanged in 2000 years.

Everyone crying out about the priest and little boys scandals, the Church is made up of a human body. And humans are in no way perfect. And they are dealt with, just not in public faces.

<3 Pope Benedict XVI was sweet and wonderful and a good follower of JPII, and prayers that the next one will also fill these great shoes

---------- Post added 2013-02-12 at 08:56 AM ----------



I could easily sit and be entertained by your avatar for a while. It's amazing.

I know a whole damn lot of Catholics that are unhappy that the Church is still taking such an archaic stance in modern times. The archaic stances aren't what make Catholics Catholic, any more than the traditions the Catholics had in the 8th century did.

Also, the idea that Catholicism is vastly unchanged over 2000 years is just not true. I mean when was the last time the church condoned the burning of a witch?

[imabanana]

He really did give quite a terrible image/message compared to his predecessor, hope they find a better one next.

So many regressions happened during his short time as a Pope it's quite incredible. Some details (garments), some much more important things (his wish of the return of mass in Latin o.o). What will we remember of him ? Terrible image, terrible relationship with other religions, terrible position on homosexuality, terrible quote of him about condoms in Africa. Now what do we remember about JPII ? Good image with other religions, opened guy (first to accept evolution theory, quite opened to science), fought personally against many dictatorships, his car, etc.

Wouldn't say it can't be worse than him for next... but it seems quite hard.

[Ayla]

He really did give quite a terrible image/message compared to his predecessor, hope they find a better one next.

So many regressions happened during his short time as a Pope it's quite incredible. Some details (garments), some much more important things (his wish of the return of mass in Latin o.o). What will we remember of him ? Terrible image, terrible relationship with other religions, terrible position on homosexuality, terrible quote of him about condoms in Africa. Now what do we remember about JPII ? Good image with other religions, opened guy (first to accept evolution theory, quite opened to science), fought personally against many dictatorships, his car, etc.

Wouldn't say it can't be worse than him for next... but it seems quite hard.

I was reading up on all things yesterday because I was truely interested as to how a new one was chosen. Supposedly "after a fat pope, a lean pope". Meaning that we should have a more progressive pope this time.

[Axi]

Please remember that the Pope in the Medieval era was a political and social as well as spiritual leader, with the emphasis on the word leader.

Urban II at Clermont is the obvious example of a moment a Pope changed in an afternoon the entire status-quo of the world by using his primacy as pontiff to manipulate the theology as a means to further what he as a person considered the forces of 'good' in the temporal world.

I dislike people calling Benedict XVI an 'old fashioned' Pope because it is an awful misnomer. An 'old fashioned' Pope would lead society again and apply New Testament theology as a positive force in our modern world.

[Deleted]

Heck, holy priests must be in a really bad place if even the pope decided to reroll monk.

Monks take a vow of celibacy quite seriously. 7/10 alter boys will be happy at this decision.

[Myrlae]

I'd like to see a young and progressive pope.

stopping you right there, ratzinger was voted because he was old. after john paul II who was the pope for ~27 years they wanted someone old who'd, well kinda harsh to say that but: die soonish.

all your other stuff: not going to happen in our life time. also they'd have to rewrite pretty much everything including the bible and the whole religion would have to split to catholic and "kinda catholic but only stuff we like" :P

[koodledrum]

Firstly, I haven't read all 4 pages since well, I'm guessing there's a fair amount of nonsense.

I'm not a catholic but I do come from a family where religion is part of my upbringing so for me on a personal level I was shocked yesterday to the point where it actually sat me on my ass without an answer to what was going on, to put it into context that hasn't happened since 2001, that's how massive a moment it is. From my own perspective I think it's a pretty bold move, here's a man who basically is the grand arbiter on earth for close to a billion people doing something that hasn't been done in near 600 years yet has decided upon reflection that he's not in a position to fulfill the duties of the role & has decided to step aside. If you look at it from that standpoint, particularly given recent history of John Paul II where the man was basically incapable yet continued until his death, it's so massively different & out of the blue that you can't fail to see the significance - I mean Ratzinger was a theological conservative, for him to do something like this is historic.

Now Ratzinger was a poor choice for a Pope to start with, he had far too much history behind him, enforced (the Hitler Youth), elected (role in dealing with abuses by clergy through the years) & literal (78 years of age) - but when it comes to it, his time will be viewed very bluntly as a transitional period.

I think what's required now for the Catholic faith to move forward & gain credibility with the general public is for a strong, younger Pope. Ideally they need someone strong enough to confront the issue of sexual abuses by clergy & look towards "fixing" it, that is to accept the churches role in it and work together with victims to make things right & ensure it never happens again. Similarly they need a strong person with regards to modernisation - no longer can the Vatican be allowed to continue their stance against homosexuality, contraception & women clergy, these are things which thank God (or whoever you believe in) are unacceptable in 2013! To continue to advise against condoms has harmed the developing world where large numbers of Catholics still believe the Pope is 100% correct, ultimately the science has proven their worth in the fight against HIV/AIDS as well as their role in birth control in places where there's not enough for the current population to continue rising. Ultimately a modernising influence, teaching the virtues of Christianity while accepting the enhanced role of scientific research (which IS possible) should be a priority.

On the next Pope, while there's a lot of media about the prospect of an African or South American Pope, I do not see this being the case - simply put I do not believe that will happen atleast in my lifetime (although I would not mind being proven wrong). It has been 35 years since an Italian Pope, that's a long time and it wouldn't surprise me to see an Italian elected, I also believe it will be someone with the aim of maybe 10-15 years in office as a "settling" role. They won't want a situation whereby they elect a man in his 70's only for him to feel he can't continue the office in 4-5 years, that would be bad for reform & furthering.

Me, I just find it a bit bizarre & odd, I never thought I'd see the day a Pope resigned, as a Protestant I'm used to my churches leaders doing this but from the Vatican I simply thought it would never happen & certainly wouldn't have expected it now - there was no rumours or speculation of it happening, even yesterday morning on the news!

[PACOX]

Wasn't he the guy in charge of all the pedophile priests cases while the last pope was in power?
I think he doesn't want to be questioned about that with all the new things coming to light.

He is in charge of those priest like Obama is in charge of the LAPD.

[Master Jakken]

<3 Pope Benedict XVI was sweet and wonderful and a good follower of JPII, and prayers that the next one will also fill these great shoes

As a Gay person I strongly disagree. Funny how perspective works, I consider him immoral and downright evil.

[Deleted]

If he resigns, perhaps that's the perfect time to shut the whole mess down.


Cheers.

[Kujako]

He is in charge of those priest like Obama is in charge of the LAPD.

So Obama was in charge of covering up the LAPD raping blind kids before he got elected? I would have thought that would have come up during the debates...

[Sayl]

Everyone crying out about the priest and little boys scandals, the Church is made up of a human body. And humans are in no way perfect. And they are dealt with, just not in public faces.

This recent HBO documentary rather amply demonstrates the naivety of that assertion.