[pax_et_bonum]

We can’t know what he was faced with.

It could have been a horrible threat toward a large group of people.

We can know only our own call and our successes and failures within that call.

RIP, Pope Benedict.

Pray for us who remain in the struggle.

[Varda]

No, we can't know why he did what he did; someone speculated that perhaps he had Alzheimer's and wasn't able to make good decisions.

However we do know what his cross was. His cross was to be the shepherd of the church, to carry on the task that Jesus gave to Peter. And we know by scripture what price was expected from the shepherd of this flock. A horrible threat against a large group of people doesn't excuse him from this task.

We just passed the feast of Stephen and rightly celebrate that he passed the test. We also see that not everyone does. So no we can look to what others do and don't do and use that as a lesson to ourselves.

[Salvation]

I believe he was threatened if he left the Vatican to spread the word of God.

Who knows who — probably the homos and the gangs who didn’t want religion in their lives.