UPDATE: Oops. Heard a story was circulating today on this, but did not note the date on this story was from Sept.
Vatican Insider is echoing an Italian daily report that Pope Benedict XVI is planning to resign in April:
Journalist Antonio Socci has confirmed the same in the Italian daily, Libero.
"For now,” Socci writes, “he is saying that this may be true (Joseph Ratzinger’s personal assumption), but I hope the story does not reach the news. But this rumor is circulating high up in the Vatican and therefore deserves close attention. The Pope has not rejected the possibility of his resignation when he turns 85 in April next year.”
Socci recalls that the assumption he will resign, without any hitches, was the same thing Ratzinger talked about in an interview in the book “Luce del mondo” (Light of the World), when, in response to a question by interviewer Peter Seewald, he said: “When a Pope arrives at a clear awareness that he no longer has the physical, mental, or psychological capacity to carry out the task that has been entrusted to him, then he has the right, and in some cases, even the duty to resign.” Furthermore, in another passage, Benedict XVI wondered if he would be able to “withstand it all, just from the physical point of view.”
Socci makes the following observation in today’s edition of Libero: “Today, Pope Benedict seems to be in really good form; just the same, there’s the issue of his age and just how much energy he has left.” But the writer/journalist also recalls another passage from the same book interview, which has to do with the attacks and controversies related to the pedophile priests' scandal: “When there is a great menace, one cannot simply run away from it. That is why, right now, it is definitely not the time to resign.”
“It is actually at moments like these that one needs to resist and overcome difficult situations. One can only resign at a time when things are calm, or simply, when nothing more can be done about it. But one cannot run away right when the threat is alive and say, ‘Let somebody else take care of it.”
The guy who wrote it (Socci) is the most servile and supine of Italian journalists.
It is outlandish but could be true.
There is not a single intellectual among them and it would be hard to consider any of them more than glorified yes men.
The Pope is right to be practical and to consider the good of the Church and not see himself in any messianic way (you know what I mean!) but at this moment in time he should use his experience to make the changes that are needed.
He still has a lot of healing work to do around the world and his intellect appears unimpaired.
His best years may be ahead.
Is that the same "great" guy who covered for pedophiles left ,right and centre?The same guy who so lacked humility that he compared himself to Jesus Christ on the cross?Great?Great enabler maybe.
Ask Law how great he was?Maciel is dead but no doubt went to the grave pining for the omerta of Wojtyla.
A guy who said bishops should protect pedophile priests over innocent kids and be considered holy for doing so?
http://thewordwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/wojtyla-backed-praise-for-hiding-abuse/
You need to examine your conscience if you align yourself with pedophiles and those who support them.
He carried the responsibility in so much as he got out of bed for four or five hours a day to write his memoirs while never once meeting with a victim of sexual abuse.
You should read the humble labourers "Milestones" where he constantly cribs about being given less than perfect accomodation by universities .
The point of Socci's article for those who know nothing about the carry on in the Vatican is that this German pope was left a Church and Curia up to it's neck in corruption.The Italian media were in on the whole show and the visiting press had to play ball.
Now the cult of personality is no longer valid we are in Soviet Russia in 1960.Stalin is dead and Kruschev looks nothing like Clark Gable.
I don't mean to start a Pius XII argument :) but though Benedict did speak at the Great Synagogue, all he did tere was defend the Vatican and Pius XII's actions (or lack thereof). Yes, the chief rabbi basically said everything was ok, but many others boycotted the pope's visit to the synagogue and the president of Rome's Jewish community spoke against Pius and asked that the archives be opened so there could be an investigation.
Wishful thinking.You will be more likely to see me in the Apostolic Palace than Cardinal Schoenborn.If it came true then Scola would be the European favourite and the forced grin himself would be the American option.
The Latin world would have Scherer .If the Holy Spirit managed to break into the Sistine Chapel he would be whispering the name of Martin to one and all and I am not referring to Jim Martin.
The Chief Rabbi of Rome Di Segni has often spoken on Italian television and whenever he is questioned on the issues during the war he has always spoken in favour of Pope Pacelli, but he might not know as much as you.
I myself met an old Jewish women in the Ghetto who had twin daughters born in 1943 and they were born in a convent.She too spoke only good of the Church.
I don't think that Pope Pacelli was any holier than some joe sweeping the streets but he was a man of conscience and the historical record has nothing to contradict that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Zolli
There are so many things that need reforming in the Church and there are enough misdeeds of Popes in recent times that to bring up Pope Pacelli is not going to bring any good.
I hope this doesn't mean they're planning to bump him off, hide the body and tell the press he retired incognito to a monastery.
Depressingly I am in the same boat as yourself.I can't help imagining what is being covered up about even the best of Saints. "He took a special interest in the education of young boys" sets off alarm bells in my head.
We do know at least that in the past it was a much stricter process and not every Tom,Dick and Harry was put forward like today.
Stephen and Mike you both make good arguments.It is just a matter of time before it becomes the norm for Popes to retire and pass the baton on.I hope that the Pope has the courage to follow his heart and mind.
These are the same people who still insist that denial is only that river in Egypt.
Does this mean that there is no God?