Pope Benedict XVI attends a meeting with seminarians at the Romano Maggiore seminary in Rome February 8, 2013.
Posted on 02/11/2013 3:11:37 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Is this just a rumor? Good grief.
Good for him, probably thought he’d go on his own terms rather than get ill or bumped off.
Maybe he wants to spend the rest of his life out of the limelight.. with a little peace and quiet..
Little or no responsibilities.. could be wisdom..
Can this be true?
This does not bode well. Benedict was a staunch conservative....taking on the liberals in his church.
No rumour, true, has issued official statement.
Full Statement from Resigning Pope
Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. 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. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with 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 Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength 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. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.
Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.
From the Vatican, 10 February 2013
BENEDICTUS PP XVI
Hmmmm...
Did Obama call him his friend?
Obama’s Fault!
What does he mean by this kind of statement? Is he saying he has lost faith?
no, i think he is basically saying he is too ill to be able to hold it all together and needs to leave it to a younger man, thats all.
Staging for the ascension and revealing of the Anti-Christ in the WH
Raymond Arroyo on CNN just said no one was expecting this resignation. NBC reported that the last pope to resign was in the year 1415.
He neither said nor did he imply anything of the kind.
What?!?!????
Please tell me this is a hoax!
I think its right of him, if he feels he will be too ill to carry out his duties, its better to hand over while he is compus mentus and not drag it on for years like john paul did. People need clear direction and he’s given that.
......Oh Salvation!
No...that was not “ok”.
So what does a healthy Pope do when he retires? Move to The Villages in Fla and take up golf?
He could very well be having health issues that we do not know of, who knows.
Has anyone consulted Father Guido Sarducci on this matter ?
British TV is saying the vatican has said it is because of ill health.
I wonder if he’s been diagnosed with something that’s going to be terminal, quickly.
Did he finally realize he's been talking to himself for Eighty years?Pope's New Book Debuts as New York Times Bestseller
*chortle*
My parents live in The Villages.
I do not recall one every resigning in my lifetime. It just isn’t usually done. I am leaning towards a progressive disease that robs him of his mental facilities like Alzheimers. (vs a disease that he would die from within a shorter period of time like cancer).
or debilitating like alzheimers or the like meaning competency problems. He is 84. Could be anything.
Don’t tell Obama that the job is open.
Wow. What must it be like to replace a resigned Holy Father? And might there be secret reasons for Der PanzerKardinal’s announcement? And what exactly does one do as a “former” Pope? Do Oprah? Hang out with Lance Armstrong? Market a private-label cheese? Judge America’s Got Talent?
Obama already thinks the pope reports to him.
Stunning.
Is he not, according to the Malachi Martin prophecy, the last Pope before the final one, Petrus Romanus?
Dam! I really was hoping the end of the world as we know it wasn’t coming this year...
Yours is the first I’ve seen but I look for the same thing to be posted in “breaking news” at least 20 times in the next few days. “Pope to resign!”
That leaves...Petrus Romanus.
This is a shame; God help him. He will be missed...
Joseph Ratzinger to retire?
Isn’t there something about the “last pope” and end times?
Tears, so many tears... we love you, Papa...
That was my first thought as soon as I heard the announcement.
First Pope to resign the office in 600 years, from what I’ve read.
That’s the first one in anyone’s lifetime. Unless you’re of the MacLeod clan.
“Dam! I really was hoping the end of the world as we know it wasn’t coming this year...”
If you look at it as the beginning of the new world rather than the end of the current one it isn’t as frightening.
Yep...just went a googling.
So...now we wait to see if Saint Hildegard and the comet are true... http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2012-da14-will-pass-very-close-to-earth-in-2013
If true, that was Gregory XII who was one of three popes. He resigned essentially so there could be one pope. (so sayeth google)
“Unless you’re of the MacLeod clan”
There can be only one!
Arrogance and atheism are made for each other.
Maybe he wants to make sure he gets a decent successor.
Former Popes usually join monasteries.
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