TBD on Ning
havin been raised as a catholic i always thought you were the pope till you died .. and then today i find that the pope is steppin down .. but i also found out that its been done before . the last time a pope stepped down was in 1415.. thats almost 600 years ago .. i wonder what the circumstances were then, and how many others stepped down too .. and what their situations were .. i wonder what all the revelation interpreters will make of this ?? i'm sure we'll all see it unfold as it goes along .. just no way to predict anything tho cause it hardly ever happens .. any thoughts about this ?
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Can't say that I knew it was even a possibility. I would think it was a life sentence, I mean post, being the pope. I guess I got to admire the guy for knowing when he is done. I am sure he has earned his rest. But 600 years is a long time, I guess I wouldn't say he has started a patern. I think I read that back when this happened before it was about healing some schism in the church, can't say I remember it from my history lessons, although I am sure it was covered at one point or another.
I don't have any real opinions on it - I was born and raised Catholic, went to Catholic schools for 15 years of my 19 years of formal education, but knew I had opted out of the religion as early as third grade. Just went through the motions after that. The history behind the resignation is interesting, though, and I thought I'd share it:
Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement on Monday that he was stepping down because he was too elderly and infirm for the job was the first papal resignation in 598 years.
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/packages/other/international/popes-resigned4.html">Go to Timeline</a>
It put Benedict among the small handful, out of the 265 recognized popes in history, who have stepped down as leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The circumstances behind the other departures generally had nothing to do with age or health, according to Vatican history experts and references.
The last pope to resign, Gregory XII, did so in 1415, 10 years into his tenure, in the midst of a leadership crisis in the church known as the Great Western Schism. Three rival popes had been selected by separate factions of the church, and a group of bishops called the Council of Constance was trying to heal the schism. In an interview with Vatican Radio, Donald S. Prudlo, a papal historian at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala., said Gregory XII had offered to resign so that the council could choose a new pope whom all factions would recognize. It took two years after Gregory XII’s departure to elect his successor, Martin V.
Other popes known to have resigned:
Pope Celestine V: A recluse who only reluctantly accepted his election in 1294, Celestine V resigned and fled the Vatican after just three months to wander in the mountains. According to a history timeline on Christianity.com, the bishop who became his successor, Boniface VIII, was intent on ensuring that Celestine V did not become an example for future popes, and ordered Celestine V seized and imprisoned as he was about to sail to Greece. He died in custody in 1296 at the age of 81, and was declared a saint in 1313.
Benedict IX: One of the youngest popes, he was elected at the age of about 20 in 1032, and became notorious for licentious behavior and for selling the papacy to his godfather, Gregory VI, in 1045, and then twice reclaiming the position.
Gregory VI: Considered a man of great reputation, Gregory VI had thought Benedict IX unworthy of the papacy, and essentially bribed him to resign. He was recognized as pope in Benedict’s stead, but when Benedict’s attempt at marriage failed and he wanted to return to the papacy, a power struggle ensued. A council of bishops called upon Gregory VI to resign after less than two years in office because he had obtained the papacy through bribery.
By contrast, the resignation of Benedict XVI after an eight-year tenure will essentially be a retirement at the age of 85, after the pope showed increasingly public signs of fatigue in recent months. His last day as pope will be Feb. 28, coincidentally the feast day of a revered fifth-century pope, Saint Hilarius.
Pope Gregory stepped down 600 years ago to close up the schism that occurred in the Church. Some guy in the 1200's actually set the precedent that it was OK to step down.
I think all the lies and cover-ups surrounding the pedophilia scandals took it's toll on Benedict since he was the person who was supposed to prosecute them. How can one sustain such lies and not have the stress eat at him? Maybe the Church didn't want to advertise what those bad priests did. I can understand that. But prosecute the hell out of them!!! They didn't do that. What a shame. I'm Catholic and it distresses me that there is such a stain on the man who was supposed to be the spiritual leader of all the Catholics in the world.
Hey Frenchy, I was watching Walking Dead last night and you remind me so much of Daryl from what I see of your pictures. You're not like him because he walks around with a crossbow slung over his shoulders so he can shoot arrows into heads of zombies, but there is something...
I'm not a fan of organized religion, it's interesting news. I think the catholic church gives too much religious power to one person as if he is more than human. I guess if you like your religion that way it's fine with me. Stepping down seems a good move if you can't do what's expected of you.
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