It's where I expect he'll end up.
"Banishment to hell.... That’s the best-case scenario. It’s not the universal view within the Vatican, where there is a sense of bewilderment and even a touch, though never uttered near the record, of resentment about the pope leaving them in the lurch."
I was told he was just old and tired.
Related: WashPost's Horowitz Mars Otherwise Decent Item on Pope Benedict XVI with Quip About Retired Pope in Hell in Dante's 'Inferno'
"Stirring the waters of the Benedict years were a contagion of child sexual abuse scandals involving priests, missteps that provoked the anger of some Jews, Muslims, and Anglicans, and the leaking of damaging internal Vatican documents. More recently, Italian news reports have said an investigation by three cardinals into the leaked documents has detailed corruption in the Vatican ranks."
The scandals are why he's getting out of Dodge, faithful fools. Some really big Pope poop is about to hit the fan.
"Benedict pledges his loyalty to successor" by Nicole Winfield and Frances D’Emilio | Associated Press, March 01, 2013
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy — Benedict will spend his first two months of retirement inside the palace walls....
Where they can keep an eye on him. I wouldn't be surprised if he dies in his sleep in the interim.
His successor is likely to follow in his footsteps given that the vast majority of the 115 cardinals who will elect the next pope were appointed by Benedict himself and share his conservative bent.
Translation: It's likely to be another white guy.
For the most part, his cardinals have said they understood Benedict’s decision. But Sydney Cardinal George Pell caused a stir Thursday by saying it was ‘‘slightly destabilizing’’ — a rare critique.
Benedict sought to defuse concerns about his future role and the possible conflicts arising from the peculiar situation of having both a reigning pope and a retired one living side-by-side inside the Vatican....
Benedict’s decision to live at the Vatican in retirement has deepened concerns about the shadow he might cast over the next papacy.
Benedict has tried to address those worries over the past two weeks, saying that once retired, he would be ‘‘hidden from the world’’ and living a life of prayer. On Thursday he took a step further with his own public pledge to place himself entirely under the authority of the new pope.
--more--"
"Discord in Rome greets cardinals on eve of conclave; O’Malley calls self unlikely pick" by Lisa Wangsness | Globe Staff, March 04, 2013
A major Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, reported that three cardinals investigating leaks of private papal documents had produced a red-bound, two-volume dossier for the next pope that showed a Vatican in disarray, including reports that some gay church officials had engaged in sexual exploits that had left them vulnerable to blackmail, according to The Guardian.
I suspect this is the real reason Benedict is bailing. He survived the other things, but the existence of gay clergy inside the church was the last straw.
The cardinals’ investigation focused on a major security breach last year in which the pope’s butler shared Benedict’s private papers with an Italian journalist. The papers, published in a best-selling book, revealed fierce rivalries and allegations of financial corruption within the Vatican.
Deepening the intrigue, the Italian magazine Panorama reported last week that church officials used wiretapping and surveillance within the Vatican to get to the bottom of the leaks scandal.
Good Lord, they are just as totalitarian as any government you will find.
On Thursday, according to The New York Times, a Vatican spokesman said that church magistrates may have allowed the limited use of wiretaps....
What is this, the White House?
Then last weekend came the news that the only cardinal elector from the United Kingdom, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, would bow out of the conclave, following allegations he had made unwanted sexual advances toward priests years ago.
On Sunday, he acknowledged engaging in unspecified sexual misbehavior and apologized for those actions....
Tom Roberts, editor at large of the National Catholic Reporter, said the big picture suggests that there are major problems in the church’s governance and culture: “It’s a culture that demands secrecy, that is about accumulating power and influence, and keeping your secrets.”
Just like a government.
****************************
The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest, author, and culture editor of America Magazine, said that by any measure, “the recent revelations are horrifying and depressing.”
****************************
Chad Pecknold, a theologian at the Catholic University of America, noted that the church has survived some famously corrupt papacies, such as the Borgias’ during the Renaissance, a period tainted by lust and treachery: “The church looks pretty darn good if you compare it to the really low points in the history of the church.”
That's not really saying much for it.
*****************************
On a post to his blog published Friday night, O’Malley steered clear of the recent controversies....
Just happy to be on vacation, I mean, vocation.
--more--"
Also see: New York cardinal embraces the conclave process
Catholics have varied visions for a new pope
Sunday Globe Special: Papal Politics
I'm praying for the black guy.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"US cardinal forcefully addresses sex abuse scandal; Insists new pope must commit to ‘zero tolerance’" by Daniel J. Wakin | New York Times, March 05, 2013
VATICAN CITY — The date for the start of the conclave has not been set, as all of the cardinals who will participate have yet to arrive, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said. The date of the conclave should be fixed in the next few days, he said.
Still, the cardinals who are here have been giving interviews signaling the themes they are interested in. All emphasize they want a prayerful pope who can effectively transmit the Catholic message.
But nuances emerge: Some say they want a pope capable of reforming the bureaucracy of the Vatican, which has been hit with accusations of corruption in the past year. Others suggest a pope must come from the Third World, where Roman Catholicism is more vibrant than Europe. Still others want a pope with a strong governing hand.
Responding to the latest wave of sexual abuse scandals, which emerged with full force a decade ago in the United States and in Europe and elsewhere in more recent years, has not been as frequently discussed....
--more--"
