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Diminishing Strength: Weakness and Vatican Intrigues Plagued Pope
Speigel Online ^ | February 11, 2013 – 05:35 PM | Hans-Jürgen Schlamp in Rome

Posted on 02/11/2013 7:52:09 PM PST by haffast

When the news came out at noon on Monday that Pope Benedict XVI would step down at precisely 8 p.m. on Feb. 28, it came as a surprise to more than just the Catholic faithful and priests around the world. "It was a bolt out of the blue," said Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals.

snip

But it seems likely that the move also came out of the realization that he no longer had complete control of the church. During the so-called "Vatileaks" affair last year, secret documents and letters were smuggled out of the Vatican over a period of months. They bore witness to intrigue and a shocking power struggle among top Catholic cardinals. Pope Benedict XVI has been unable to put a stop to it. Nor was he able to reform the Vatican Bank following a series of obscure deals apparently aimed at money laundering.

snip

But Benedict, who holds a Ph.D. in theology, has also had difficulties addressing other issues facing the church. He has proven unable to adequately deal with the seemingly unending series of sex abuse scandals that has shaken Catholic institutions around Europe and the world in recent years. Furthermore, his hard-line stance on faith has done little to slow down the widening cleft between today's believers and the Vatican. Huge numbers have left the church in recent years, particularly in well-off dioceses in Europe and the United States as Rome has become increasingly inflexible in its orthodoxy under Ratzinger's leadership.

snip

Lombardi added that the pope did not expect that a schism would result from his decision to step down -- hardly the kind of statement that will resole doubts about the crisis now facing a deeply fractious church leadership.

(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: catholic; germany
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1 posted on 02/11/2013 7:52:16 PM PST by haffast
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To: haffast

Is it true that you must be a Cardinal in order to become the Pope?


2 posted on 02/11/2013 7:56:36 PM PST by tsowellfan (cafenetamerica.com)
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To: tsowellfan

Hmmmmmmmm. Do you think Obama has a shot?


3 posted on 02/11/2013 7:58:33 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Nothing will change until after the war.)
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To: haffast

No doubt his memos as a cardinal to the bishops to protect the pedophile priests by moving them to new parishes, rather than to turn them into local law enforcement authorities, was a very great burden on his mind, and soul. I suspect that the assistant, who he fired and had jailed, had obtained documents detailing the cardinal’s sins. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I suppose the former assistant will “sell” the documents to the highest bidder.


4 posted on 02/11/2013 8:05:32 PM PST by batterycommander (a little more rubble, a lot less trouble)
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To: ClearCase_guy
I hope not. But I've been hearing Silvio Berlusconi rumors flying around. Just saw this on an Italian Facebook page.


5 posted on 02/11/2013 8:07:50 PM PST by tsowellfan (cafenetamerica.com)
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To: haffast

This is a bad precedent. I wish the Holy Father had stayed in office until he was at least bedridden, comatose or dead. Just because your health is not at 100 percent, is no reason for a Pope or a monarch like Queen Elizabeth to vacate the office. Give them a right hand man to help carry out strenuous diplomatic trips like the Queen has Will, Kate, Harry.


6 posted on 02/11/2013 8:12:23 PM PST by Ciexyz
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To: ClearCase_guy

Hmmmmmmmm. Do you think Obama has a shot?
__________________________________________________________

The media are salivating.....hoping for a ‘black one’....who’s ‘for abortion’ and ‘contraception’. Any other time they could CARE LESS. Just want someone who thinks like THEY do and that the Catholic Church should ‘move forward’.

I’m not Catholic, but it makes me sick how they control the narrative on what Christianity/Catholicism should be.

Ultimately......they want to turn the entire Catholic and Protestant faiths into a Unitarian vision. New-age nothing-ness. Void of biblical foundations.


7 posted on 02/11/2013 8:17:35 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear (Great vid by ShorelineMike! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZjJk6nbD4&feature=plcp)
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear
Ultimately......they want to turn the entire Catholic and Protestant faiths into a Unitarian vision. New-age nothing-ness. Void of biblical foundations.

Yes - a vacuum of faith. Which, unfortunately, holds the door wide open for Islam.

8 posted on 02/11/2013 8:26:24 PM PST by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: Charles Martel

Bang! Exactly.


9 posted on 02/11/2013 8:30:41 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear (Great vid by ShorelineMike! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZjJk6nbD4&feature=plcp)
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To: haffast

WHAT??? He’s QUITTING???

This I frankly never expected to see. Ratzinger had a stiff upper lip. Now the speculation is going to go agog.


10 posted on 02/11/2013 8:31:29 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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To: Charles Martel

And to add to that.....the Commies are still SERIOUSLY pi$$ed that Pope John Paul, Reagan and Thatcher were responsible for the fall of the Berlin Wall.

They are out for blood.


11 posted on 02/11/2013 8:33:43 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear (Great vid by ShorelineMike! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZjJk6nbD4&feature=plcp)
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

I am surprised that Rome would go looey that easily... what with all the tradition they keep... but again anything’s possible. It is a devilish world. They ain’t going to listen to Barack Obama, though.


12 posted on 02/11/2013 8:33:48 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

When the trial starts the speculation will be over.


13 posted on 02/11/2013 8:34:24 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor

what... they were threatening to impeach him or something? really odd.


14 posted on 02/11/2013 8:36:07 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

I’m seeing the ‘shifts’ in other faiths. Don’t count it out. Our churches have been infiltrated.


15 posted on 02/11/2013 8:42:15 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear (Great vid by ShorelineMike! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZjJk6nbD4&feature=plcp)
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

Some Southern Baptists still seem to be OK... but I just got a leaflet from one that seemed to have a good, even powerful spirit about it... and it’s almost apologetic in tone. And I don’t mean Christian apologetics. What happened to a gospel of which we are not ashamed?


16 posted on 02/11/2013 8:48:26 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

The problem is the Media, HiTech. The MSM. The message. The mantra. The meme. They control everything......and the people behind it. They decide what is ‘cool’ and what is not. I was watching NCIS this afternoon.......and lo and behold.....a series about a football team that had questions about gay players. It’s PUSH, PUSH, PUSH. Agenda, agenda, agenda.

I’m SICK of the propaganda.


17 posted on 02/11/2013 9:01:40 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear (Great vid by ShorelineMike! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOZjJk6nbD4&feature=plcp)
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To: tsowellfan

I don’t think one has to be a Cardinal to become Pope. It’s rather like one doesn’t have to be a Congressman to become Speaker of the House or one doesn’t have to be a lawyer to become a SCOTUS justice.


18 posted on 02/11/2013 9:05:00 PM PST by EDINVA
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To: EDINVA
I don’t think one has to be a Cardinal to become Pope

Ya mean a bishop, like, say, Joey Bishop (if he were available) could become a Papa?

19 posted on 02/11/2013 9:07:28 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

Media is circuses now (and food stamps are bread). They are entertainment in all but the name.


20 posted on 02/11/2013 9:09:29 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (How long before all this "fairness" kills everybody, even the poor it was supposed to help???)
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