Pope Benedict's Devotion to Saint Celestine Signaled His Resignation from the Papacy

Canterbury Tales ^ | February 11, 2013 | Taylor Marshall

[NYer]

Pope Benedict venerating St Celestine, 

the only Pope Saint to have resigned

When I heard Pope Benedict's announcement this morning that he would be retiring from the Chair of St Peter at the end of February 2013, I was sad but not entirely surprised. In fact, here on the blog, we've been following Pope Benedict's devotion to Pope Saint Celestine for over two years now, and wondering whether our beloved Holy Father may be contemplating this decision. Saint Celestine, as you may know, was the last Pope to resign...and he is a canonized saint. Pope Benedict's visits to Saint Celestine's grave revealed that His Holiness was contemplating this decision.

Two and a half years ago, I posted an article on this site from Robert Moynihan called, "The Celestine Sign." In this article, Mr. Moynihan detailed Pope Benedict's growing devotion for Saint Celestine. As one who personally knows Pope Benedict, Moynihan speculated that Pope Benedict may have been subtly revealing his hand. The Holy Father's growing love for the saint that resigned from papacy may indicate the prayerful decision of his own heart.

Think about it for a moment. If you were a Pope and completely overwhelmed and feeling inadequate,  to whom could you turn?



Who could possibly understand the pressures of the Papacy? Who could rightly guide you in this difficult decision? The simple answer is, no one on earth. So instead, our Holy Father has turned to Saint Celestine - the only saint in Heaven who has experienced what Pope Benedict is experiencing.

I find it beautiful that the Catholic Church even has a patron saint for Popes that resign. Let us pray for our Holy Father. Moreover, let us seek the intercession of Saint Celestine in the days to come.

Question for readers: How do you feel about this announcement? Pope Benedict is the only Pope under which I have been a Catholic so I find it a bit emotional. Nevertheless, I trust that our Holy Father is doing the right thing, and I'm optimistic about our next Pope. He chose the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes to reveal this and that's a great sign. Christ already knows who our next Pope is. Let's begin to pray for him and for the whole Church of Christ.

Please leave a comment and tell us whether you saw this coming and what you think the future holds. What will the conclave be like? Will Pope Benedict sit in on it?

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.

Saint Celestine, pray for us.

[NYer]

Ping!

[NYer]

Ping!

[GOP Poet]

My feelings and thoughts are always—in cases such as this—that God’s will be done. I am sure that the pope has taken a prayerful heart, mind, and soul to this decision and it is Godly led as all big and little decisions should be. It reminds me to thus turn to Christ in all. God bless pope Benedict. It is a time of great evil. I look forward tp God’s continued show of His hand.

[Alex Murphy]

Think about it for a moment. If you were a Pope and completely overwhelmed and feeling inadequate, to whom could you turn? Who could possibly understand the pressures of the Papacy? Who could rightly guide you in this difficult decision? The simple answer is, no one on earth. So instead, our Holy Father has turned to Saint Celestine - the only saint in Heaven who has experienced what Pope Benedict is experiencing.

So the pope has been feeling completely overwhelmed and inadequate for the job, has he?

[AnAmericanMother]

He's a very intelligent man, a good man, a holy man. It breathes from his writings and from his homilies and addresses.

I am going to trust him that he has made the right decision, and trust Christ to preserve His Church, against which he promised the gates of hell would not prevail.

And I think we all ought to dedicate a Rosary or a Holy Hour to the Pope, for comfort and peace.

[AnAmericanMother]

Any sane and reasonable man would, and he has said so from the very beginning of his reign. He is a very humble man despite his huge intellectual and theological achievements.

Only with the aid of the Holy Spirit can such a monumental responsibility be undertaken by any human being. And he realizes that. As Aslan said to Prince Caspian, "If you had thought you were ready, it would have been a sign that you were not."

P.S. You need to save your snarky comments for another day. It doesn't reflect well on you or whatever beliefs you hold to.

[Alex Murphy]

P.S. You need to save your snarky comments for another day. It doesn't reflect well on you or whatever beliefs you hold to.

Those weren't my comments.

[AnAmericanMother]

Yes they were, even if a paraphrase, and you put them on this thread where we are sadly coming to terms with the resignation of a good and holy man.

Don't you have anything better to do with your time?

[Biggirl]

IMHO, after letting this digest, I am not surprised by the decision. For one thing, Pope B16 is in his 80’s and from my experience with dealing with an aging mother who is a few years up from him, you count it a blessing just to be alive each day. Also the duties of being Pope must have taken its toll and who knows if he does have health issues to contend with.

May God Bless and be with Pope B16 and the Pope who will come after him.

[Biggirl]

IMHO, after letting this digest, I am not surprised by the decision. For one thing, Pope B16 is in his 80’s and from my experience with dealing with an aging mother who is a few years up from him, you count it a blessing just to be alive each day. Also the duties of being Pope must have taken its toll and who knows if he does have health issues to contend with.

May God Bless and be with Pope B16 and the Pope who will come after him.

[Seventh_Tiger]

Yipee! now we can all look forward to the crowd of 42,000 waiting for the age long ritual of colored smoke coming thru the Cathedral Chimneys! Does anyone know what each color represents?

[Biggirl]

White means a new Pope has been elected, black means no Pope has been elected.

[Melian]

What a wonderful idea, AAM! I will join you in dedicating a Rosary for him.

As a very wise priest once reminded me when I was worrying about the direction of the Church, “You don’t need to worry about that; the Holy Spirit is still guiding the Church. He’s still in charge.”

We can trust that, come what may, the Holy Spirit will be working wonders for the Church.

[Melian]

Perhaps Benedict saw what went on when JPII was so frail and decided to humbly spare the Church that vulnerability. He was a close witness as JPII struggled at the end and he may feel a Pope needs to be at his most powerful to grapple with the snares the devil has set for the Church.

I see it as a humble decision. He knows it will be dissected by many unkind and uninformed hearts.

[Verginius Rufus]

What happens if they elect a black pope? Will it still be signalled with white smoke?

[Verginius Rufus]

There was a pope who resigned more recently than Celestine V--Pope Gregory XII in 1415.

Pope Pontian (230-235) resigned when he was sent by the authorities to mines in Sardinia. He died soon afterwards and is considered a saint and a martyr. So St. Celestine is not the only pope who resigned who is considered a saint.

If I remember correctly, Dante put Celestine V in hell--he didn't approve of his resignation.

[NYer]

Yes, there have been several popes that resigned. It's just been a loooonnnnngggg time since that occurred.

I try to avoid the mainstream media coverage of anything catholic since they are so ignorant and make no pretense about it. Not surprisingly, someone on Fox today raised the possibility of an African being elected and exclaimed "this would be the first black pope". ;-) We catholics know otherwise.

[Salvation]

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