[annalex]

people would try to keep some things from reaching the Pope

Or try to make things that belong to the Pope to reach us, like his butler did.

The critical question of our days is the same as has been prior to the abdication: who will the successor be? His Holiness made sure the Council will elect someone is this pope's mold; he wouldn't want some maneuver behind his back damage the composition of the conclave.

[Rashputin]

I think this is an incredible act of humility and those who don't understand that don't understand the role of humility plays in our following Christ.

Such folks should read what Pope Benedict XVI has written over the years then maybe they'd get a clue.

People have bought into the lie that surrendering to Christ doesn't include surrendering their ego driven intellect and therefore apply the thought process to what they claim to believe as they apply to shopping for a new electronic toy. If it's popular they don't worry about rationalizing it and if it's not popular, they generate all sorts of exceptions to justify their doing what they want.