Posted on 12/12/2014 2:55:21 PM PST by marshmallow
If it is accurate--and I have no reason to doubt that it is-- the report that Benedict XVI wanted to be known as “Father Benedict” after his resignation is strange and illuminating. Why? Because today he is not known as Father Benedict.
Even before Pope Benedict stepped down, the Vatican announced that he would be known as “Pope-emeritus.” Why didn’t the outgoing Pontiff get his own way? The Vatican is not a democracy; the Pope sets the rules. Yet in this case the Pope permitted others to overrule him.
This is not a case in which the Pope was persuaded to bow to established precedents; there were no precedents to follow.
According to the German journalist Jorg Bremer, the former Pontiff now recalls that he wanted to be addressed as Father Benedict, but “I was too weak at that point to enforce it.”
Notice the words: “at that point.” When Pope Benedict announced his resignation, most observers agreed that his health was poor. There were stories about spikes in his blood pressure, warnings from his doctor, dangerous stumbles and one serious fall. Visitors reported that he was visibly exhausted by long meetings. In a surprise announcement the frail Pope explained:
After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.
Many journalists concluded at the time that Pope Benedict was near death. But nearly two full years later he remains active and alert; if anything, he looks healthier than he did when he resigned. Relieved of the burdens of the papacy, he has made at least a partial recovery.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicculture.org ...
Pope Francis says he expects to live two or three more years, and may retire
19AUG2014
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/19/pope-francis-expects-live-two-three-years-may-retire
Maybe he was misinterpreted.
In the meantime, many other religions fall, IMNVHO, woefully short in the organization and structure department. Even worse, their ideas of pomp and pageantry just don't cut it ... not even by NFL halftime standards. Perhaps now that we have a spare, we could put Benny out (or Frannie) as a consultant.
Care to elaborate on the tone of your post?
Cut back on the caffeine.
Really—who cares? he’s already history.
Why certainly. IMNVHO, The Vatican has placed itself in a rather awkward position reminiscent to me of the Avignon Captivity, and other times, when more than one Pope was claiming the throne. Pope Benny tried to back out gracefully, but apparently the nomenclatura wouldn't allow it.
As a title, "Pope Emeritus" seems completely bogus to me. Furthermore, I think I can see in the swirling competition between various factions, why Pope Benny may have resigned to begin with.
Furthermore, the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane within the Roman Church has always fascinated me. Take for example, St. Francis of Assisi. He preached the dispersal of earthly treasures to alleviate the sufferings of the poor. Yet, upon his demise, the religious order((s) that grew up around him owned a major piece the real estate in Northern Italy. Is he any less a saint? Of course not. Is this not historically remarkable? Of course it is.
I also confess that I cannot quite take this new fellow as a serious heavyweight thinker and consider him a sort of dabbler around the edges of Liberation Theology .
Now is my tone somewhat irreverent? Why yes, I believe I must confess it is.
Roger that.
Oy - it makes him sound helpless in the hands of an unnamed cabal which easily thwarted him in matters large and small. That sends a shiver through me. Is the Curia a pack of wolves and bullies?
Your premise is wrong from the git-go. Benedict (Joseph Ratzinger) is not a pope now at all. There are no different grades or degrees of "pope." He is a priest, a Bishop -- not a pope, period.
As for your contemptuous tone --- "Bennie" and "Frannie" --- let me, in all charity and a spirit of Christian good will, advise you to knock it off.
No, only Francis is misinterpreted.
Then why the title, "Pope Emeritus?"
let me, in all charity and a spirit of Christian good will, advise you to knock it off.
Thanks. I needed that and will comply.
Ain't that the truth....more post Vatican II novelty.
I wasn’t clear. It’s the snarky tone I find offputting because it reads as so gratutious,juvenile, and especially in the last sentence, just smug. You’re so busy larding it on, your points become obscured.
That said,I would also disagree, particularly with the import of the first paragraph of your last. “Emeritus”, I have just learned, is a “postpositive adjective.” I’d never heard of one of those, but ok. We all know it means “retired.” Why that descriptor is “bogus,” just escapes me -— it’s merely descriptive. I think you’re reaching an awful lot to compare Benedict to an anti-pope. I’m just not aware of any facts that would support such a comparison. Frankly, I’m a Catholic and not a huge Francis fan, but your post just reads like this was an opportunity for you to hop on your anti-Catholic hobby horse.
Why does he still wear white?
much ridden 'round these here parts.
That's why he didn't want the title "Pope Emeritus." This puzzling title is unprecedented historically, and thus not defined.
I am touched in my heart, and will henceforth call him Father Benedict. Or even Father Ratzinger. That's who he is.
It dismays me so deeply me that some little clerical bureaucRAT got it all twisty-tailed around at a point when Benedict was so weak he couldn't nail down all the details.
It's maddening.
Thank you for your good will.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=23468
I know this was linked in the OP, but I thought I’d post it separately. It provides additional interesting info.
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