Posted on 02/12/2013 7:45:06 AM PST by Alex Murphy
ROME — A day after Pope Benedict XVI stunned Roman Catholics by announcing that he would resign at the end of the month, the Vatican disclosed new details about his physical well-being on Tuesday, saying he had been fitted with a heart pacemaker a decade ago but that had not influenced his decision to become the first pope in almost 600 years to step down.
The disclosure about the device, whose existence was not widely known, came as the Vatican grappled with a series of logistical questions raised by a decision that gave Benedict just 17 days to wind up his almost eight-year papacy.
At a news conference, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman said the pacemaker was installed some years ago, while the pope was still a cardinal before his election in 2005. The batteries were replaced three months ago in a routine prodecure that had not influenced the pope’s thinking about resigning, Father Lombardi said.
The intervention was “just a routine change of batteries, not an important operation.”
“This did not weigh on his decision, it is more about his forces diminishing.”
When he announced his resignation on Monday, the pope cited advancing years and weakness, saying his strength “has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.”
Greg Burke, the Vatican’s senior communications adviser, said the pacemaker was fitted roughly 10 years ago — a period when Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was the head of the Vatican’s main doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“You don’t resign because you have a pacemaker or because you have a new battery for a pacemaker,” Mr. Burke said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
....Greg Burke, the Vatican’s senior communications adviser, said the pacemaker was fitted roughly 10 years ago — a period when Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was the head of the Vatican’s main doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
So he isn’t stepping down for all sorts of evil reasons? What will the media do?
A heart pacemaker? As opposed to a liver pacemaker?
What I find more interesting than all these resigning popes (which I don’t consider a big deal) is the story of John Paul I...the smiling pope.
I know some folks who might benefit from a stomach pacemaker ...
well they better handle this thing smartly because everybody is used to Popes leaving office feet first when they’re stone cold dead. With all the scandal hitting the Catholic Church, no wonder folks are thinking along conspiracy theory lines.
Big Media will print half-truths, distortions, and fabrications.
What else would you expect?
They can't even report the weather without puking up some piece of leftist propaganda.
He’s too pooped to pope, so he’s generously making way for a more vigorous replacement.
I'm forgetting my manners.
I haven't invited you over lately, so THIS is just for you.
I’m guessing he’s suffering from the beginnings of dementia, but the Vatican doesn’t want to come out and say it. Too many critics use it to hammer the Pope’s reforms....
From the moment he was elected, Pope Benedict made it clear that he hadn't wanted to be Pope: he said that the announcement was "like a guillotine blade coming down."
Knowing that at his age he'd only have a few years, and knowing all the sotto-voce skulduggery that goes on in any big institution, especially the Roman Curia, I'm betting he has been planning for his successor from Day One back in April 2005.
He's a patient man. He's planned 15 moves ahead, putting the chess pieces in place. Now, announcing RIGHT before Lent, he's basically forcing the Cardinals to wrap it up quick, because none of them wants to be out of their Diocese for the whole Holy Season, and certainly not for Easter.
Plus, with Benedict still being alive, they can each of them come in to consult with him, personally, if they want, about his successor. And he can undermine the plotters (yes, there are plotters, too: people who side with the Enemy.) This careful planning--- I hope --- is the long-term architecture of the thing. I think Benedict's moves are wise, Spirit-guided, brilliant.
Then, Benedict is going to retire to a life of intense prayer in a monastic setting.
Something big coming.
Really big.
People: pray, pray. pray.
You make too much sense. Don’t you know what website you’re on? ;)
(I agree with you, though)
Um, I read that this is the first time a Pope has resigned in 600 years....
You could be right, but I buy the loss of stamina theory. People with heart problems often notice a loss of stamina. I did. Add to that the Pontiff’s age. No wonder he’s tired.
I give him credit for recognizing that he can’t do the job anymore and that it is time to step aside for someone else. I just hope that his successor will be a conservative and a stalwart defender of the faith.
Papal Smiley
“...this is the first time a Pope has resigned in 600 years....”
Yes! They’re not exactly carting them off in wheelbarrows...
Hey, it’s hard work covering for pedophiles...
The insiders aren’t shocked despite their claim.
http://www.americancatholic.org/news/pope/popehospitalized/PopeSodano.asp
Sodano is rumored to be behind the Vatileaks as he wanted to get someone else in Bertone’s position before the Pope died.
For all the talk of God leading spirtual paths blah blah blah to picking the Pope it is going to be a war between the Sodano and Bertone factions.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1202259.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/opinion/the-pope-could-still-right-the-wrongs.html?_r=0
Oh and for those that continue to claim that the Catholic Church is not a political organization....
Read this.
It is one big political soap opera.
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/46410?eng=y
“Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, is desperately trying to defend his position while being besieged by many who want him to resign. His enemies appear to be led by the “old guard” who were ousted after the departure of Cardinal Bertone’s predecessor, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.”
“Nobody in the Curia seems to have heeded the Holy Father when, some years ago, he addressed the world’s bishops with these words from St Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: “If you go snapping at one another and tearing one another to pieces, take care: you will be eaten up by one another.”
So the war has begun. But regardless of who wins, the Church loses.”
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2012/02/09/the-church-is-the-loser-in-this-ugly-war-between-vatican-officials/
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