Pope retires, citing 'frailty.'

I am pretty skeptical. I always thought the last one should have retired instead of letting himself be propped up like a mannequin so he could say mass, but this one seems downright robust by comparison. I think there is some underlying health issue, or some other more nefarious reason for this decision. What do you think?

makes no difference. they'll put someone just as thick-headed and out of touch as the new pope.

Ladbrokes is the second bookmaker to make Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana the favourite to be the next Pope, with odds of 5/2. - BBC

Think global: I have this theory that the ol' Bish -- essentially dead in this life -- couldn't stand to be up-staged by a genuinely dead King re-discovered underneath a parking lot. Incorrigibly -- and yet, curiously, a man of faith -- Goddard

May his retirement in Argentina be a blessing.

Not a decade too soon.

William Hill bookmakers named 80-year-old Arinze as their favourite to replace the pontiff following Monday's shock announcement of the pontiff's resignation with odds of 2-1, followed by Turkson at 5-2.

Coral also tipped Arinze as the likeliest successor with odds of 7-4, followed by Turkson at 2-1 and Ouellet in third place at 5-1.

The bookmaker also offered odds of 8-1 on Archbishop Angelo Scola of Italy and 10-1 on Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power named Ouellet as the favourite with odds of 5-2, followed by Arinze at 3-1 and Turkson at 4-1.

Coral was offering 2000-1 on disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong becoming pope.

- hindustantimes

In re #6. Lola, should we offer benwaugh in candidacy? I myself am technically qualified for the job-- unless the rules have been changed to exclude mandolin-playing baseball fans -- but I rather suspect that my record -- my history, not my LP -- is against me. Sigh.

I think it's time for a female pope. The good cardinals would have to dispense with some bollocks-fondling, but I'm sure they compensate for that enough in private.

In re #10. Lola, you never cease to astonish. Do I detect a slight concialiatory tone here? I would have thought you would be reminding us of the need to be done with the whole dam' institution -- and now it seems you just want a piece of the action. Of-course, should you present yourself in candidacy, all your friends are prepared to curse you or praise you, according to what will do the most good. You certainly have the best linguistic ability of anybody since Eneo Silvio Piccoluomini. Anyway, for the moment, I will not be presenting myself in candidacy, for reasons akin to Shelley's. Not that I would push the comparison too far, but at one point when he was particularly broke, he had the peculiar idea of becoming a country clergyman. Sadly, he had already published ON THE NECESSITY OF ATHEISM, so the idea didn't get too far. I will however, bring the full moral and ecclesiastical muscle of my bloc onto the side of any candidate who promises to compel the Vatican Library to track down and distribute the missing copies of Philipp Fehl's MONUMENTS AND THE ART OF MOURNING. These were last seen on a pallet in the basement of the BAV. Such is the fate of a Jewish scholar writing about the Successors of Peter. Oy. Love to all, -- G. PS. Lola, if by some chance we COULD have a female Pontiff, I have visions of the enthronement liturgy: perhaps something along the lines of the Inquisition scene in THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, PART ONE. Music, maestro and -- Bring on the nuns! I am obviously going straight to Hell; if I get there before you, I'll scratch a line in the burning sand. If you get there first, you rub it out.

Dementia is the only thing I can imagine which would cause a pope to retire.

I'm going with blackmail.

#12 - That's what I'm thinking. Either that or he's lost his faith and is tired of the sham.

In re #11. Dear pinzocat, take it from somebody who has studied the Papacy for probably longer than you have been alive: if dementia were the issue, there would have been, perhaps husndreds of Pontiff who hung it up. More than a few of them were demented during what is alleged to have been their full vigour, whether yoiu consider the so-called "pornocracy" of the Tenth Century, the murderous policies of "Innocent" IV, the private depravities of Pio Terzo, or the horrors of the Tridentines like Pio Quarto and Pio Quinto. It is practically within modern memory that Pio Nono was batting around like a coot. And how could I have forgotten John XXII? Sorry if this sounds like an anti-Christian rant; actually, it comes from an Anglo-Catholic who's written sympathetically about yet another of the Bishops of Rome. Doctrine aside, I suspect we won't know the full truth about this departure for a long time. After this post, it is dead certain that my own candidacy will not be seriously considered. What is needed, since a woman is probably out of the question, is another Hadrian the Seventh.

What is needed is an Antipope. There hasn't been one since 1449.

In re #15. theoria, I'm sorry to report that right here on the Good Ship LibraryThing, there have been posts assuming that the incumbent Pontiff, plus sundry others, ARE anti-popes. Duck: the lunacy is everywhere. Even so, peace to ya -- Goddard

Does an ex-pope retain his infallibility or can he suddenly be wrong?

it's almost laughable that Benedict's announcement that he can no longer fulfil the job of being pope in the 'modern world' was delivered in Latin!

Age and frailty really don't sound such great excuses. Didn't he know he was 77 when he took the job?

Interesting point in today's 'Independent'. Now that he's no longer pope, he is open to being arrested and extradited on charges of complicity in covering up sex crimes. Charges brought by his multitude of victims.

> 20

The stated plan (which will be followed for the reasons you give, among others) is for him to remain in monastic seclusion within the Vatican.

#20/21 How delightful! I'm always thrilled at anything that brings religion into further disrepute. If the molestation ofd countless children didn't do it, maybe such blatant evasion of the law will help.

Apparently this pope is one of the wisest, best educated, most eloquent popes ever. He may have come to realise that it's all bollocks, but I doubt it. Most likely there is some connection with the butler who raided his office.

Any thoughts on the lightning strike to the Vatican right after the announcement.
Just proves there is a god, right?

Betting: Who will be the next Pope?

Paddy Power has Cardinal Turkson at 7:2.

They also have Richard Dawkins at 666:1, which is nice.

Ladbrokes has Cardinal Ouellet at 3:1.
They have Tony Blair at 500:1

Yeah but what does Nate Silver say?

And where do I come in the odds?

Sorry, Booksloth - their rules explicitly say "No Girlz Allowed"... so Dawkins has a better shot at it than you do....

#10

Deal. Send advice on what to do if Hell icy, though.

24~

Time expiry marker
Times up on the Faustian deal that was made. The Devil arrives.
Run! Hide! Quick! Hurry! DUCK!

my sources tell me the REAL reason for the resignation is that he wants to marry his boyfriend. Obviously this is causing problems with his own policies. Poor Pope.

31> I second that emotion.

#12 It it were blackmail, his retirement would not be freely made, and would therefore be invalid under canon law - canon 332 para. 2. Thus, should a successor be elected, that election would presumably be invalid and we would have the anti-pope requested at #15.

Spit coffee on keyboard

He is to disappear to be a christian Catholic Prisoner X like the Judeo Prisoner X .

He's stepping aside so that Frowny Cat can take over ...



heh ...

 

> 36 christian Catholic Prisoner X

"You are number XVI."

"I'm not a number, I'm a free bishop!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

>37 BTRIPP: OMG it's ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been wondering why he chose this February 28th. The only relevant anniversary I've thought of is that it will then be sixty years to the day since Watson and Crick announced that they had determined the double-helix structure of DNA.
Any better suggestions?

next fiscal year starts March 1st? He can still claim his expenses for Feb?

#41 Sadly, that sounds the more likely explanation.

well, here's another more likely explanation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/21/pope-retired-amid-gay-bishop-blackma...

Saw pic of pope on Facebook today, saying Pedophile priests go to heaven, gays go to hell. He was shrugging his shoulders and saying Hey! I don't make this shit up!

> #1 He probably used to be one of those paedophile German priests. Somebody somewhere has the dirt on him and threatens to expose him if he moves to squelch the German scandal. Stranger things have happened, don't you think?

>45 dekesolomon: absolutely.

Was the film Eyes Wide Shut, 1999, starring Tom Cruise,
about the RCC from the perspective of Tom's and Stan's
religions ?

-

IMDb: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
A New York City doctor, who is married to an art curator, pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.
http://www.imdb.com/rg/em_share/title_web/title/tt0120663

#43 Loving the idea that anyone could be shocked at the thought of the Vatican as a 'seething hotbed of intrigue and infighting'. What on earth do they expect when they throw a bunch of frustrated, power-hungry men together with nothing better to do than bicker? Show me any religion that doesn't have power and intrigue at its centre and I just might rethink my distaste of the whole thing (though not my disbelief in their 'gods').

> 47

No. It was a fairly faithful riff on Schnitzler's Freudian micro-odyssey Traumnovelle.

Clever suggestion, though.