Pope Benedict to Resign 28 Feb

[undercovergeek]

How many people in human history have ever voluntarily stepped away when they held high office?

Agreed. It takes true courage and wisdom to relinquish power at the appropriate time. It is an amazing act after 600 years of precedent in the other direction.

2 years from now well find out REALLY why he decided to go

[Longdan]

Something about fixed bingo games no doubt.

[Staggerwing]

I hope history recognizes his prudence and humility. As a former Catholic, I also hope that this makes him a tough act to follow. The bureaucratic infighting that determines Catholic World Doctrine is unworthy of the sacrifice that local priests and parishes make in all the forgotten corners of the world.

[MikeGER]

2 years from now well find out REALLY why he decided to go

...you forgot two zeros  ;)
200 years from now well find out REALLY why he decided to go... well, if they use good'ol paper and no digital archives.

it was 'rumored' in our news:  inside the Vatican organisations (or better called a firm) are some high-rank  rotten apples, with a lot of backstabbing, power-mongering, and even a gay-network including non-clerics, who are able to blackmail/influence their clerical (darkroom)friends...  Benedict, had three confidants ordered to stake out and uncover those activities for some longer time period, and got the final 300 pages report recently on 12/17.
With his age and health condition, he porbably thought he doesn't has the strength left to clean out his house for good. (which also had to be done slooowly and unnoticeable for the public too)
He classified that report as "FYEO"  for only the next Pope to read.           

[besilarius]

Had to happen.
There is a game on electing the Pope.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/left-out-of-official-catholic-conclave-these-ladies-play-the-pope-game/2013/03/01/26b6ec86-827b-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html?hpid=z5

[Longdan]

2 years from now well find out REALLY why he decided to go

...you forgot two zeros  ;)
200 years from now well find out REALLY why he decided to go... well, if they use good'ol paper and no digital archives.

it was 'rumored' in our news:  inside the Vatican organisations (or better called a firm) are some high-rank  rotten apples, with a lot of backstabbing, power-mongering, and even a gay-network including non-clerics, who are able to blackmail/influence their clerical (darkroom)friends...  Benedict, had three confidants ordered to stake out and uncover those activities for some longer time period, and got the final 300 pages report recently on 12/17.
With his age and health condition, he porbably thought he doesn't has the strength left to clean out his house for good. (which also had to be done slooowly and unnoticeable for the public too)
He classified that report as "FYEO"  for only the next Pope to read.         

That great writer of this age Dan Brown (I cannot believe this guy was an english prof) will blow the lid off the whole thing.
The fact that he sold so many of his incredibly stupid books is a commentary on the dumbing down of modern society.

[JasonPratt]

Eh, I can believe DB is an English prof: his prose is competently tight and the chapter structures are well designed (at least in TDVC, i haven't read his other books), and he thinks he knows vastly much more about everything than other people do, if only the system wasn't holding him back from exposing the real truth of everything TO THE WORRRLLLLDD! ;)

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile, back on topic -- yeah, I heard about the Pope's special report, but it hadn't yet occurred to me that he might have resigned early rather than try to deal with it. God help whoever gets elected next.

Fun ironic fact: back when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, the Pope was head of the doctrinal department which had previously run the Inquisition, whose original mission had been to root out corruption in the Church. I guess he Inquisited too much as Pope (and not enough as a Cardinal).

Come to think of it, the existence of that FYEO report will probably make a significant effect on the very backroom politicking he had researched and wanted to stop. :( Imagine how much paranoia is involved in the process now -- the guy who gets elected gets access to the Inquiry results!

[steve58]

Fake Cardinal caught sneaking into Vatican conclave

Even an event such as this draws out the idiots/nutjobs....

[steve58]

To ease the suspense/waiting of the conclave, here's a little Pope trivia:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/9922436/Pope-election-conclave-trivia.html

Longest conclave

In 1268, a conclave began that lasted nearly three years - 33 months, to be exact.

Pope Gregory X was elected pope, but not before residents of Viterbo, north of Rome, tore the roof off the building where the cardinals were staying and restricted their meals to bread and water to make them hurry up.

Hoping to avoid a repeat, Gregory decreed in 1274 that cardinals would only get one meal a day if the conclave stretched beyond three days, and served bread, water and wine if it went beyond eight.

While the meals served these days at the Vatican's hotel are by no means gourmet, the cardinals won't go hungry - no matter how long they take picking a pope.

Shortest conclave

Before 1274, there were times when a pope was elected the same day as the death of his predecessor. After that, however, the church decided to wait at least 10 days before the first vote; later that was stretched to 15 days to give all cardinals time to get to Rome.

The quickest conclave observing the 10-day wait rule appears to have been the 1503 election of Julius II, who was elected in just a few hours, according to Vatican historian Ambrogio Piazzoni.

Youngest and oldest Popes elected

Pope John XII was just 18 when he was elected in 955. :o The oldest popes were Pope Celestine III (elected in 1191) and Celestine V (elected in 1294) who were both nearly 85.

Benedict XVI was 78 when he was elected in 2005.

Other conclave trivia

The last time a pope was elected who wasn't a cardinal was Urban VI in 1378 - he was a monk and archbishop of Bari.

Pope Pius XII, who was pope during World War II, left a document informing the College of Cardinals that they should hold a conclave and elect a new pope if he were taken prisoner.

While the Italians have had a stranglehold on the papacy over centuries, there have been many exceptions aside from John Paul II (Polish in 1978) and Benedict XVI (German in 2005). Alexander VI, elected in 1492, was Spanish; Gregory III, elected in 731, was Syrian; Adrian VI, elected in 1522, was from the Netherlands.