Verdant Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 The pope has resigned. Eighty-five year old Benedict XVI astonished cardinals in the Vatican with the surprise announcement, in Latin, that he does not feel strong enough to head the Roman Catholic Church. He said he would step down on the last day of this month. Benedict’s papacy has been marked by controversy and scandal – most notably he upset Muslims with a lecture and persistent revelations of child sex abuse by Catholic priests. The last time a pope quit office was six centuries ago in the middle ages. Writer John Thavis, who has been covering the goings-on there for 30 years said: “I think it does leave the church with a lot of questions. The church has not really had a situation of two popes in many centuries. Obviously it won’t really be two popes, one will have resigned, but it is going to be hard for people to forget that Pope Benedict is still alive and he is still perhaps writing, still perhaps expressing himself.” Already the bookies are taking bets on who will be the next pope. Ghana’s Peter Turkson is one of two Africans topping the list of odds-on favourites. Also with the frontrunners is Canadian Marc Ouellet, but there are also names from Latin America being mentioned, raising the prospect that the next leader of 1.2 billion Catholics will not be from Europe for the first time ever. Vatican sources said that as the Pope has not died there is obviously no need for the traditional nine days of mourning, but there will be a Conclave to select a new pope before the end of March.. The 85-year-old said he took the decision due to old age. In a statement delivered to the Vatican he said: “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.” “Both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.” No specific illness The Vatican’s spokesman said Pope Benedict has no specific illness and his decision to resign was taken with no outside pressure. Father Federico Lombardi explained that the Pope’s decision was not due to an illness but to a progressive decline in his strength which was normal in a man of his age. “In the last few months he has seen a decline in vigour, both of the body and spirit,” Lombardi told reporters. “It was his personal decision taken with full freedom, which deserves maximum respect,” he added. Lombardi said the Pope had not decided to resign because of “difficulties in the papacy” and the move had been a surprise, indicating that even his inner circle was unaware that he was about to quit. The Pope does not fear schism in the Church after his resignation, the spokesman said. Source: http://www.euronews.com/2013/02/11/frail-p...nd-of-february/ Best wishes for his future . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lt_yao Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 The same topic has been posted way ahead of you, it's still on the same page too... http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=545340 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verdant Posted February 12, 2013 Author Share Posted February 12, 2013 Ah, sh*t. Didn't scroll down far enough. Mods lock this thread please.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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