[NYer]

I hope and pray this is just a rumor!

[Phlap]

Popes don’t resign. They die.

[el_texicano]

I thought the Pope was supposed to die in office...never heard on any resignation? How does the Pope who is renowned to be infallible, resign from being God on earth? Does he become fallible after that?

This raises so many questions to me...

[Verginius Rufus]

I would think that any pope who resigned simply because of reaching a certain age would be setting a precedent which future popes would have a hard time ignoring. Resigning because of incapacity to carry out the duties of the office would be a different matter.

[the invisib1e hand]

Innuendo is the Devil's Teleprompter.

or something like that.

[Teotwawki]

For those into the 2012, Mayan calendar terminus and other signs of the end times.....

In 1595 Saint Malachy wrote a prophecy describing, quite accurately, each future pope to come. The final Pope on the list is the one following Pope Benedict.

[MEGoody]

Unless he has some horrible illness, I don’t see this happening. I pray that is not the case, and this is just a rumor.

[ken5050]

Assume that the Pope decides to resign because he feels that his faculties/strength/ability are beginning to ebb, and he wants to exit on his own terms, while still reasonably capable. The BIG question is how effective he could be in helping to choose his successor. College of Cardinals is an interesting place at election time..

[E. Pluribus Unum]

In other news, Sarah Palin isn't running.

</sarcasm>

[Alex Murphy]

Journalist Antonio Socci has confirmed the same in the Italian daily, Libero. "For now,” Socci writes, “he is saying that this may be true (Joseph Ratzinger’s personal assumption), but I hope the story does not reach the news. But this rumor is circulating high up in the Vatican and therefore deserves close attention. The Pope has not rejected the possibility of his resignation when he turns 85 in April next year.”

Ping for later.

[Antoninus]

They said the same thing about JPII. These are wishful thinking articles on the part of the anti-Catholic media.

[Minus_The_Bear]

Sarah Palin will be the next pope.

[Logic n' Reason]

WHAT??????????????

.

The pope a quitter????

Oh....say it ain't so!!!

That would make the pope like a certain governor who "resigned" (or quit as the haters like to say).

[Scythian]

Rumors of AntiChrist being next pope to start in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

[KosmicKitty]

I am not Catholic and I don’t mean any disrespect to anyone, but I have wondered what happens if a Pope gets a disease such as Alzheimer’s.

Can a Pope be removed from office due to a medical condition that prevents him from doing his duties?

[RinaseaofDs]

Peter the Roman will follow. He’ll be the last Pope. He’ll be the one to take the Church through the persecution. That is, if you believe St. Malachy.

[markomalley]

Antonio Socci's blog, Lo Straniero, has a couple of postings on it that could be of interest (in Italian):

• Dimissioni del Papa… Preghiamo che Dio ce lo conservi a lungo (Resignation of the Pope ... We pray that God preserve him for a long time)
• Dimissioni del Papa 2. Le ragioni della sua sofferenza e ciò che bisogna fare (Pope's resignation 2. The reasons for his suffering and what to do)

Both these two seem to follow on Socci's article in Il Libero, La tentazione: se il Papa pensa alle dimissioni (teaser at the link).

The blog entries both talk about the intense pressures that are on the Holy Father. The first also resurfaces the hypothetical discussion attributed to him in Light of the World. It seems that the whole issue revolves around some comments made recently by his brother, Georg, who mentioned this passage from Seewald's interview.

[ADSUM]

The Holy Spirit will continue to protect Pope Benedict XVI.

Let us offer our prayers.

[SuziQ]

I’m sure the libs would love this! They can’t stand the man!

[Dominick]

the pope is the very essence of fallible. Only God can be perfect, and blameless and not deceive.

This is why we use Catholic Caucus. Catholics understand infallible in the light of the Church teaching, others may think we claim the Pope can take Calculus tests and make 100% every time.