

Pope Benedict XVI to Resign on February 28 - brequinn
http://mashable.com/2013/02/11/pope-benedict-xvi-to-resign-on-february-28/

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Svip
I am shocked! Honestly, I am. I am not catholic, in fact, I am hardly
religious, but the Pope abdicating (a pope doesn't resign, he abdicates!)?
That's... insane.

Last time that happened was in 1415 when Gregory XII was forced to abdicate
because of the Schmism.

Honestly, I am disappointed in these people are supposed to serve as relics of
our old institutions (such as monarchies), when they cannot stand up to the
basic requirement of a title that last till they die.

What's the point, if they can abdicate on a wimp? One should _only_ abdicate
if a war for the throne has been won by a pretender!

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arrrg
Retirement is a good idea. That’s just it. It would be shocking if there were
no popes who are willing to agree with that. The last pope didn’t, this one
apparently does. That said, both the last and the current pope are the same
age when they leave office – 85 – so I could imagine that also factoring into
Benedict’s decision. Dude wanted to retire eight years ago – and then became
pope. I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t how he imagined spending his last
years.

Nowadays old people are merely mentally or physically handicapped by malaises
that would have killed them not a century ago. In that context this is a very
natural development, proving once again that churches are always willing to
change to insure their survival (but not an inch more).

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Svip
I think it is more an indication that we don't need monarchies anymore.

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mattquiros
Don't know if you guys heard, but there's buzz around here in the Philippines
that the next Pope might be Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Antonio_Tagle>), or at least the faithfuls
believe he has a good chance. The mere thought of it scares me though. The
Church has a very strong influence in State affairs, and I can only imagine
this being a really bad thing for my country.

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yk
And now the end is near. [1] On the positive side, the only really hard
prediction on that list is, that the next pope is "Petrus Romanus." So we can
nicely test the reliability of Malachy's prophecy.

[1]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_the_Popes>

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wglb
Interesting, but not HN material.

