He's just checking in on them, perhaps to thank them their support...
Posted on 01/14/2006 6:32:27 AM PST by Petrosius
The Vatican, citadel of secrets and intrigue, has thrown up another little mystery: what has the Pope been doing on a spate of night-time missions to his old cardinal lodgings?
Over the past few weeks, the German pontiff has been seen sneaking back to his old room outside the Vatican walls three times, La Stampa reported yesterday.
At about 9pm a plain, dark car carrying 78-year-old Pope Benedict and his private secretary, Don Georg Gaenswein, swirls out of a side door of Vatican city. It then doubles round in the back streets before arriving at 1 Piazza Citta Leonina, a hall of residence for senior Church figures and the Pope's home as a cardinal for almost 24 years.
A Vatican security guard is always waiting in front of the apartments in a pedestrian zone tucked behind St Peter's Square. The Pope gets out of the car disguised in the plain black priest's robes he wore when he was the Catholic Church's senior theologian.
Wearing a black hat and with his head down, he opens the wooden door himself, as he did for all those years, and tiptoes inside followed by Don Georg.
"Its is not a question of just dashing in for a few minutes to grab a bag or a book," La Stampa said. "He spends at least a couple of hours there."
Nine months after moving into the spacious papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter's Square, Pope Benedict appears to be hankering after his old, reflective life as a cardinal and a theologian in a bedsit.
"We shouldn't be surprised " wrote Marco Tossati, La Stampa's Vatican correspondent. "The calm existence he had before, and the most certainly more weighty one he has now are separated by just a few hundred metres; maybe the temptation is just too much even for the strong but delicate personality of Benedict XVI."
The Pope is already starting to gain a reputation for slightly eccentric behaviour and a penchant for disguise. At Christmas he delighted crowds by turning out in a red, fur-lined hat that used to be worn by popes in the Middle Ages to keep their heads warm. He has also been seen wearing red Prada shoes and pricey Serengeti sunglasses.
Discretion seems to be the catchword for the Pope's recent evening visits to the security of his old home. He does not even stop for a chat with his former room-mates, who La Stampa said, would be relieved that he no longer indulges in his old habit of playing Bach and Mozart a little too loudly.
Boy if you guys can't take a little light hearted ribbing, then I'd have to question the strength of your beliefs.
Bugger off???
Do you have any idea what the word "bugger" means? Is that what they teach you in Catechism? Tsk Tsk.
I know when I'm not welcome. See ya.
That is what is so sille and illogical about sola scriptura.
That is what is so silly and illogical about sola scriptura.
The bible doesn't mention the word bible.
By strange coincidence, Elton John's "Where to Now, St. Peter?" was playing on the radio as I was reading this.
I notice that there is no attempt to address the verses just after Jesus names Peter:
Mat 16
21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
But assuming it is all true about Peter, where does Pope St. Linus come into it?
All Linus has is this:
2 Timothy 4
21 Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.
Why bother dignifying an idiot's trolling?
It does mention Peter, though.
Come to think of it, the Bible doesn't mention you either, therefore, I can readily scroll through your comments with no fear to lose my eternal reward.
-Theo
Oh wait, the bible doesn't mention TV. V's wife.
He's just checking in on them, perhaps to thank them their support...
In response to the increasing public interest in the cat situation, especially in Italy, shortly after the Pope's election a spokesperson issued an official statement that while His Holiness does indeed like cats, he does not own any nor have any living with him, but he did frequently feed cats in his neighborhood.
Then there is no TV.
It also does not mention the internet. Which means you are not reading this post, it does not exist.
As I have Scottish heritage, I do, indeed, know what "bugger off" means. I didn't learn the phrase in Catechism, I learned it at the hands of bigoted, anti-Catholic persons who felt morally superior.
Feel free to go thou and do likewise.
I would think then that you should wash your fingers out with soap.
Not disputing anything, just a simple question:
After Peter was killed, why would a non apostle take over as the leader of the church when surely John and possibly other apostles were still living?
Thanks...
Why was Peter chosen? Why were the twelve chosen? Why was Saul knocked off his horse?
So what? Acts was clearly written prior to St. Paul's martyrdom, since it doesn't even mention it, though, mentioning his impending trial, it vertainly had the "motive" to do so. St. Peter was himself martyred around the same time. Linus isn't mentioned in anything but the passing reference you cite because he either wasn't even pope yet (or "Bishop of Rome, if you like, it doesn't alter his authority" - a warm Thank You to Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons!), or had only just arrived in the capacity. Scripture, you may be amazed to know, is not meant to address every contingency in 1st Century Christian affairs. It failed to do so in the case of St. Paul, it failed to do so, in a historical narrative sense, for pretty near EVERYTHING that came after.
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