[Siobhan]

MALACHI MARTIN ALERT: Sorry, folks, but this reads like a chapter from a Malachi Martin novel. I have no doubt that there are plenty of devious men in the Vatican and among the Cardinals -- like the Honduran prelate in this article -- who would love nothing better than to sequester this Pope in Poland, shut him up in a monastery, and elect a Pope of their liking.

[Siobhan]

Bump

Please freepermail me if you would like off of my bump/ping list.

[Dog Gone]

How many old frail Popes have been "hurried" into the afterlife? I'll bet there have been several.

(Not suggesting or encouraging that here, of course.)

[sinkspur]

MALACHI MARTIN ALERT: Sorry, folks, but this reads like a chapter from a Malachi Martin novel. I have no doubt that there are plenty of devious men in the Vatican and among the Cardinals -- like the Honduran prelate in this article -- who would love nothing better than to sequester this Pope in Poland, shut him up in a monastery, and elect a Pope of their liking.

Wasn't Martin a little nutty?

Ratzinger hardly sounds like someone who would welcome JPII's resignation, unless, of course, JPII can't function.

If he can't function, someone else will be running the show anyway.

[MarMema]

Bump for a great new pope and a great new beginning for your church! Soon.

[cold_vicious_logic]

My grandmother died of Parkinsons (or at least it started out as Parkinsons). It is a slow, degenerative killer which takes its afflicted apart one day at a time, eventually leaving them as a vegetable. At JPII's age and health, I think it would be ludicrous for anyone to expect him to hold out until the bitter end. That would serve no purpose either for himself or for the Church. I'd say the time has come for him to pass on the torch.

[AdA$tra]

Pope Pius XII had left instructions that if the Nazis arrested him during World War II,

Doesn't sound like he was a Nazi collaborator to me.

Seriously though, I pray for our current Pope and that our next Pope can follow through with John Paul's determination, strenth and doctrines.

[Verginius Rufus]

John Paul II was elected in October 1978. If he is still pope in October 2003, he can celebrate his jubilee. I don't know if that is a consideration with him.

Only 2 popes in the past millennium have made it past the 25-year mark: Piux IX (1846-1878) and Leo XIII (1878-1903), the latter with just a few months to spare. Two other popes fell just short: Pius VI (24 years, 6 months and 14 days) and Pius VII (23 years, 5 months and 16 days). John Paul II is now at 23 years and 7 months.

[Cicero]

It's very unlikely he will resign. Just as it wouldn't do the U.S. much harm if congress took a vacation for a few years and forgot to pass any new laws, it wouldn't do the Church any harm if the Pope were to fall ill for a few years and didn't write any encyclicals. This Pope has written more great encyclicals than any ten other popes. I quiet period in the Church wouldn't do any harm, and if God doesn't want that, He can take the Pope to himself any time He decides.

Dante called the action of a medieval pope who resigned and was replaced by a wicked successor, "il gran refuto," and he gave him a place in hell in the Divine Comedy for resigning. No, I think this pope will patiently accept whatever God sends him.

[Salvation]

This is nonsense. Popes don't resign!

[Cap'n Crunch]

VIVA PAPA!

Thank you Lord for such a fine Pope.

[nickcarraway]

Most people would be lucly to ever be as sharp as John Paul II is now. During the course of his life, he has escaped death an amazing number of times. The people who are counting him out are sorely mistaken. He may outlive many of the people currently rushing him.

[Slyfox]

In 1996, JPII wrote an apostolic constitution on the selection of the next Pope, Universi Dominici Gregis

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for posting this. It gives me a chance to ask: If the Holy Father doesn't have long to live, what's the rush to get someone else in his place? Can't his enemies wait for a sick old man to die in peace? What purpose would be served by his resignation? He is pope for life, after all...

[Coleus]

Who said that Fr. Malachi Martin was wrong?

[Coleus]

Here is another story about the Jesuits, seem Fr. Malachi Martin has company, and was right. No?

Are the Jesuits Catholic? A review of "Passionate Uncertainty." by Paul Shaughnessy

I have friends who went to Jesuit-run high schools. One Jesuit told his class that Jesus did not walk on water; He walked on a Sand Bar!

These guys are not preaching the faith.