Pope Benedict XVI 'is to resign'

[Drakken]

According to Austrian news, the only other pope to ever abdicate was Coelestin I in 1294.

Nope. 1415, Council of Constance, Gregory XII.

I don't count the schism.

Well, I and other Catholics do.

[Syt]

Well, it seems that the express permission for Popes to retire was added to Canonical Law in 1983. The decision must be voluntary, reasons need not be given, and no one needs to accept the resignation.

It was rumored that Ratzinger, before getting popified, was looking forward to retirement and spend more time writing. I'm guessing he saw the Beatrix business and thought, "Not a bad idea . . . "

[Martinus]

There is a joke already - how can you tell John Paul II was a true Pole?

A true Pole would never voluntarily resign from a position of power.

I guess this is more fun when you know Polish politicians. 

[Iormlund]

Or Spanish ones. While Brits and Germans resign after covering traffic violations or plagiarizing their thesis, our entire government stands firm despite ledgers that show pretty much everyone taking money from bribes, for decades. It would be amusing if it wasn't so sad.

[Syt]

Meanwhile, it takes considerable pressure for Austrian politicians to resign. Even after a criminal conviction for corruption it may take weeks till they step down, and months for new elections.

The stuff that caused Wulff to resign from the German presidency would hardly raise eyebrows here.

[Iormlund]

What? They get convicted. What kind of inept rulers do you have over there Syt? Our politicians are at least smart enough to define very short statutes of limitations, so they can laugh all the way to the bank if anything ever comes out.

Sure, they might lose a couple elections. But since there are only two parties and closed lists, the pendulum will soon swing their way.

[Caliga]

submitted to Martinus

[HVC]

Guess this changes the answer to the sarcastic reply "is the pope catholic"

[Syt]

What? They get convicted. What kind of inept rulers do you have over there Syt? Our politicians are at least smart enough to define very short statutes of limitations, so they can laugh all the way to the bank if anything ever comes out.

Sure, they might lose a couple elections. But since there are only two parties and closed lists, the pendulum will soon swing their way.

Corruption and lobbyism is a big part of Austrian politics. That said, the country is still surprisingly well run. The last few years saw a silly amount of corruption trials in politics and business, plus a huge inquiry on four or five different allegations of corruptions of the past few governments. However, with things becoming more visible, mindsets slowly start to change.

But as point of reference: a few years ago they changed the anti-corruption laws again. It used to be that public servants and elected officials couldn't accept invitations/goodies from anyone. Now they can accept them again, if the benefit is not tied to a specific expectation. You can invite someone for dinner to improve relations, but you can't invite them in order to get a certain decision out of them. This will be changed back again soon.

Still, Austria is a small country, 8 million people, so most people who have some influence know each other personally, which makes the lines between corruption and being friends blurry.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I would imagine maybe he has a diagnosis of early Alzheimer's or something that will deteriorate his mental faculties. I think for JP2, he had this strong feeling that he had a lifetime responsibility as ordained by god, and if he deteriorated it was god's will. But Benedict has been a very activist Pope in trying to push his brand of Catholicism, especially in regards to activities designed to increase the number of Catholics and even poach Christians from other Churches like the Orthos. Benedict probably recognizes with modern medicine, he could live 10 more years with deteriorating mental capacities and that doesn't sync with his vision of the more activist leadership the church needs.

He probably hopes a Cardinal as conservative as he will get selected to keep the fight on against the modernizers / liberals in the Church, but a lot of people felt then Cardinal Ratzinger, a known anti-reformer, was picked primarily as a compromise. He was old enough that they'd get to pick a new Pope soon, at which point more of the conservative Cardinals would have died off and the more liberal ones could select a more modernizing pontiff.

Will be interesting to see how it works out.

[Josquius]

Surely the thing to do would be for him to retire from active-work and remain a figurehead pope with a vice-pope doing all the work?
This abdication business really is a major change. Odd for a conservative.

[alfred russel]

My impression is that basically no one really likes him. Who wants to still be working in a job with massive responsibility at 85 in a situation like that? Maybe he just wants to retire.

[mongers]

There must be some amusing illuminati crap about this up on Faceplant now. 

[Martinus]

submitted to Martinus

[Martinus]

I can't wait for the conclave to elect an African Pope. Polish right wingers would really have a tough one with this one (a PiS MP called Obama's election "the downfall of the white man civilization" for example).