Pope Francis Is Going to Be 80 -- The Possibility of a Resignation

The Eponymous Flower ^ | December 17, 2016 | Roberto de Mattei

[BlessedBeGod]

Pope Francis is crossing the threshold of 80: Ingravescentem aetatem (advanced age), as the motu proprio of 21 November 1970 by Paul VI declared, which, by reaching this age, requires all cardinals to put their tasks to an end, and deprives them of the right to participate in the conclave. Paul VI. established this rule to create a new "Montinian" curia. Moreover, he introduced a fundamental contradiction in the Church's more than a thousand years of practice.

If the advanced age is an impediment to the direction of a diocese or a dicastery, and even prevents a cardinal from choosing a pope, how can we imagine that a cardinal who has become a pope, even after the age of eighty? Can he bear the burden of the world church?

It was not, however, such considerations that urged Pope Francis on 12 March 2015 to say:

"I have the feeling that my pontificate will be short, 4, 5 years. Perhaps it is not so, but I have the feeling that the Lord has set me up for a brief cause. But it is a feeling, so I leave all possibilities open. "

The real reason for a possible abdication does not seem to be a decline in capability, but Pope Bergoglio's awareness, not two years after his election, to be penetrated into what Antonio Socci in the newspaper on November 20, 2016 Libero describes as the relentless "decline of a pontificate."

The project of Pope Francis to "reform" the Church with the help of the bishop's synod and various collaborators, is well in place, and the record of the Holy Year is more than disappointing. On November 21, 2016 Marco Politi wrote in the daily Il Fatto quotidiano :

"Pope Francis closed the Holy Door, but his message is accompanied by the rumbling of a subterranean crisis. There is a civil war in the Church. "

The dispute was whether consciously or unconsciously, unleashed by Pope Francis himself, especially after the Apostolic Letter Amoris laetitia, the Church no longer moves forward, but is sinking into a terrain riddled with deep crevices.

The failure of the pontificate of Pope Francis has already been compared to that of Barack Hussein Obama. In three years in Rome, what has taken place in Washington in eight years: the transition from an initial euphoria to a final depression, because the set goals were completely missed. It would be wrong, however, to read the pontificate of Pope Francis only from a political point of view. Pope Francis could never have pronounced Obama's "yes, we can".

For a pope, as opposed to a politician, everything is not possible. The Pope has a supreme, full, immediate, and universal authority, but can not alter the Divine Law that Jesus Christ gave to the Church, nor change the natural law which God has imprinted in the heart of every man. He is the vicar of Christ, but not his successor. The Pope can not alter either the Holy Scriptures or the tradition which form the far-reaching rule of the Church's faith, but must submit to them.

This is the impasse in which Pope Bergoglio is today. The Dubia that four cardinals (Brandmüller, Burke, Caffarra and Meisner) have laid before the CDF  have forced him upon a dead track. The Cardinals expect a clear response from the Pope on the Apostolic Letter Amoris laetitia with a yes or a no to the following questions:

Can divorced persons who have once again married once and who do not want to give up their objectively sinful situation in which they find themselves, rightfully receive the sacrament of the Eucharist? And more generally: Do the Divine Law and Natural Law still have absolute validity, or do they tolerate exceptions in some cases?

The answer concerns the foundations of morality and the Catholic faith. If what was valid yesterday is no longer valid today, then what is valid today, will not be valid tomorrow. If, however, morality can change according to time and circumstances, the Church is destined to perish in the relativism of today's fluid society. If this is not the case, Cardinal Vallini must be exempted from his office, who stated in his speech at the pastoral meeting of the diocese of Rome last September 19 that newly married divorced persons may be admitted to the communion in accordance with an "assessment which is appropriate case by case." His position set out on 2 December in the daily newspaper Avvenire, a media organ of the Italian Bishops' Conference as his own, that according to the Amoris laetitia contains "very clear words" upon which "the Pope has set his imprimatur".

But can the Pope confer on the shepherds' "judgment" the authority to transcend the law of God and the right of nature, the preserve of which is the Church? When a pope tries to change the faith of the Church, he explicitly or implicitly renounces his mandate as vicar of Christ, and sooner or later he will be compelled to renounce his pontificate. The possibility of such an explosive result can not be ruled out in 2017. The self-imposed abdication would allow Pope Francis to abandon the field as a misunderstood reformer, and to attribute to the responsibility for his failure upon the "severity" of the curia.  If this is to happen, it will be more likely to happen after the next consistory, which allows Pope Francis to once again plant a new group of cardinals near him to influence the Holy College, thereby influencing the choice of his successor. The other possibility is the fraternal reprimand by the Cardinals, which, as soon as it becomes publicly known, corresponds to a determination of errors and heresies.

Nothing is more erroneous than the sentence of Cardinal Hummes, in reference to the total number of cardinals: "They are only four, we are 200". Apart from not counting on numbers to demonstrate the fidelity to the Gospel, what are the 200 Cardinals, who are 227 to be exact, to whom Hummes has referred, who have distanced themselves from their four confreres. Have they actually distanced themselves by their silence from Pope Francis?  The first observations in support of the Dubia by Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum , and Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Economic Secretariat, are meaningful. Some are beginning to break their silence. There are not 200, but certainly more than four.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The arrogant never choose to retire from a position of power, because they think themselves more important than the office.

Robert Mugabe, 92, the tyrant of Zimbabwe, has announced his plan to stand for president in 2018.

[Dr. Sivana]

"I have the feeling that my pontificate will be short, 4, 5 years. Perhaps it is not so, but I have the feeling that the Lord has set me up for a brief cause. But it is a feeling, so I leave all possibilities open. "

Obama made some noise about not running for re-election in his first term. It is just chatter. Read nothing in it.

[Unam Sanctam]

I think this Pope is very ideological. I don’t believe he would resign lightly, but will stay as long as possible to accomplish his Martinian reforms.

[stevem]

He has only been Pope for a little less than 4 years. Why does it feel like 4 centuries?

[stevem]

He has only been Pope for a little less than 4 years. Why does it feel like 4 centuries?

[Pontiac]

The answer concerns the foundations of morality and the Catholic faith. If what was valid yesterday is no longer valid today, then what is valid today, will not be valid tomorrow.

If, however, morality can change according to time and circumstances, the Church is destined to perish in the relativism of today's fluid society.

This is crux of the issue. Truth is timeless. What is fundamentally true today will be true tomorrow and will be true ten years or ten centuries from now.

What God has said is sin is sin today, is sin tomorrow and is sin forever.

The Episcopal Church, the Anglicans, the Methodist and many of the Liberal leaning churches have fallen in to this trap and are bleeding members. The Catholic Church has also seen dwindling attendance but not to the same degree.

The decline of the churches in my opinion is due to the church’s move to a humanistic approach to worship and moving away from a God centered worship.

What Pope Francis is doing with Amoris Laetitia extending humanism in to the institution of marriage and making the sin of adultery subject to individual conscience. (If the sin of adultery doesn’t bother my conscience it must be okay with God.)

Why would anyone need to go to church if all matters of sin are simply matters of personal whim?

[Gadsden1st]

The Pope will just declare himself to be 60 years old. Problem solved.

[Sgt_Schultze]

It was truly the emergence of Thatcher, Reagan and JP2 that powered a resurgent western revitalization. Who can be the complimentary piece along with Trump and LePen?

[ealgeone]

Apart from not counting on numbers to demonstrate the fidelity to the Gospel...,

sounds kinda like the catholic arguments, "how old is your church?" in a vain attempt to defend roman catholicism.

[piusv]

Pope Francis is crossing the threshold of 80: Ingravescentem aetatem (advanced age), as the motu proprio of 21 November 1970 by Paul VI declared, which, by reaching this age, requires all cardinals to put their tasks to an end, and deprives them of the right to participate in the conclave. Paul VI. established this rule to create a new "Montinian" curia. Moreover, he introduced a fundamental contradiction in the Church's more than a thousand years of practice.

I did not know this. Another first step in the slippery slope. All brought to you by the same man that promulgated the non-Catholic Vatican II. The common thread keeps popping up all over the place!

[NRx]

I hope I am wrong, but I seriously doubt he would step down for any reason short of some kind medical incapacitation. And it needs to be remembered that rather perversely, on this subject he has church tradition on his side.

[piusv]

And it needs to be remembered that rather perversely, on this subject he has church tradition on his side.

Yes, how ironic. He will use tradition when it suits him I'm sure.

[napscoordinator]

The last pope was the worst. I have been catholic since birth. Went to catholic grade school and high school. I knew the mass inside out. Now after all these years, I still have not memorized the new mass that last pope destroyed. I go to mass weekly with my family and the prayers and mass has changed. It’s a tragedy. I was hoping this pope would return the mass to normal but so far not happening.

[Zuriel]

Careful FRiend, the thin skinned (unlike Jesus Christ, who displayed utmost calm when in debate), will plead to (site) government to have you silenced.

It reminds me of the Jews going down to Caesarea to ask the governor to silence Paul.

[Zuriel]

Ha! Wasn’t it Burt Reynolds that wanted to drop ten years off his age back in the 70s because he felt younger than he thought he should at his actual age? I think he was wanting to have birth certificate changed, iirc.

[OldSmaj]

...But it is a feeling, so I leave all possibilities open. "

Well, we should all act upon our feelings, Mr. Pope...for instance, I feel that your political liberal pontificating has done damage to the Church.

Hopefully, it's not irreparable, but I feel that the sooner you are gone and your political liberal pontificating is gone with you, then a lot of folks will feel better.

So...don't let the door...well, you know.

[cloudmountain]

This is crux of the issue. Truth is timeless. What is fundamentally true today will be true tomorrow and will be true ten years or ten centuries from now.
What God has said is sin is sin today, is sin tomorrow and is sin forever.
The Episcopal Church, the Anglicans, the Methodist and many of the Liberal leaning churches have fallen in to this trap and are bleeding members. The Catholic Church has also seen dwindling attendance but not to the same degree.
The decline of the churches in my opinion is due to the church’s move to a humanistic approach to worship and moving away from a God centered worship.
What Pope Francis is doing with Amoris Laetitia extending humanism in to the institution of marriage and making the sin of adultery subject to individual conscience. (If the sin of adultery doesn’t bother my conscience it must be okay with God.)
Why would anyone need to go to church if all matters of sin are simply matters of personal whim?

All true.
The Catholic Church, founded by Jesus, will survive and thrive. Maybe it won't thrive here but there are places in the world where it does.
All good people KNOW that the "absolutes" are essential BECAUSE they are timeless. Most societies have had the same kinds of morality, always.

Then there are those societies where, for example, abortion is legal and moral. THAT is sad.

[scrabblehack]

Even post-Paul tradition: John Paul II 84, Benedict XVI 85 (at abdication)...even Paul VI himself 80+.

[Biggirl]

Altough Pope Francis did mentioned at the end of the recent World Youth Day gathering in Poland this year that he will not be attending the next which will be in Panama.