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PeonForHer -> RE: Pope Benedict Resigning (2/11/2013 4:39:33 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: OsideGirl
That's closer to what I was thinking. He has put his foot in it several times, I think he realizes that fighting his image would be an overwhelming battle and has decided to withdraw.
He's had to deal with falling numbers of entrants to the priesthood, as well as a split between progressives in the west and conservatives in Africa. There are the money scandals and the paedo issue, neither of which will go away. The more time goes on, the harder the pope's job must be. With his failing health, the old boy just isn't up to it.
Perhaps the best innovation he could bring to the papacy is the precedent of resigning.
There isn't any position in the world like his: secular politicians are expected to piss off before they've hit senility partly because no-one expects them to handle the pace of politics into old age. Monarchs just withdraw from doing or saying anything the instant they become embarrassing (like our lunatic Nazi old bat of a Queen Mother, who was kept quiet for a decade, lest she say something appalling, before her gin-soaked carcass was finally wrestled into a coffin).
Popes, though - they're meant to maintain a hold on world affairs until they croak. That's just not sensible, especially nowadays. I think this resignation was a good move on his part (ie 'good' in terms of the future survival of the Catholic Church, assuming that one considers its survival to be a good thing).
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