Vatican City Looking tired but serene, Pope Benedict XVI told thousands of faithful Wednesday that he was stepping down for "the good of the church," speaking in his first public appearance since dropping the bombshell announcement of his resignation.
The 85-year-old Benedict basked in more than a minute-long standing ovation when he entered the packed audience hall for his traditional Wednesday general audience. He was interrupted by applause by the thousands of people, many of whom had tears in their eyes.
A huge banner reading "Grazie Santita" (Thank you Your Holiness) was strung up at the back of the hall.
Benedict appeared wan and spoke very softly, but his eyes twinkled with joy at the flock's warm and heartfelt welcome. He repeated in Italian what he had told his cardinals Monday in Latin: that he simply didn't have the strength to continue.
"As you know, I have decided to renounce the ministry that the Lord gave to me on April 19, 2005," he said, to applause. "I did this in full liberty for the good of the church."
He asked the faithful "to continue to pray for the pope and the church."
Benedict is the first pope to resign in nearly 600 years, and the decision has placed the Vatican in uncharted waters: No one knows what he'll be called or what he'll wear after Feb. 28.
The Vatican, however, has made it clear that Benedict will play no role in the election of his successor, and once retired, he will be fully retired. He plans to live a life of prayer in a converted monastery on the far northern edge of the Vatican gardens.
As a result, Benedict's final public appearances are expected to draw great crowds, as they may well represent some of the last public speeches for a man who has spent his life — as a priest, a cardinal and a pope — teaching and preaching.
And they will also represent a way for the faithful to say farewell under happier circumstances than when his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, died in 2005.
"We were just coming for vacation, and now we are getting all of this!" marveled Terry Rodger, a tourist from New Orleans as he headed to the audience. "I am very excited. I'm surprised."
The audience was the start of a busy day for Benedict: he will also preside over Ash Wednesday services later in the day to mark the official start of the Catholic Church's solemn Lenten season. The service is usually held in a church on Rome's Aventine hill, but was moved at the last minute to St. Peter's Basilica. The Vatican said the shift was made to accommodate the crowds, though it will also spare the pope the usual procession to the church.
The Vatican insisted no serious medical ailment was behind Benedict's decision to retire, though it admitted for the first time on Tuesday that Benedict has had a pacemaker for years and recently had it replaced.
The move sets the stage for a conclave by mid-March to elect a new pope. Benedict's final general audience will be held Feb. 27.
"It is the perfect occasion to give a cordial and affectionate goodbye to this pope who has given us a great example of courage, humility, inner honesty, and a great love for the church," said Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, head of the Vatican's communications office.
"Thanks so much for your intelligent, gentle and timely posts.."
Let me thank you for your kind words. I know the crowd you're talking about and I have found them to be a sad and hopeless mob, not worth responding to. Trying to reason with the unreasonable is a fool's errand, one I have neither the time nor the patience to pursue.
Because they have rejected God they are unfortunately stuck with their anti-philosophy, anti-theology, anti-history, anti-Scripture and ultimately anti-reason positions.
They are in fact committed to their nihilism and cannot let go for a moment lest they fall into the state described by C.S. Lewis when he wrote, ""A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere."
You described a long list of sexual sins in your message. Since I cannot look into the human heart I cannot know whether they are secretly guilty of all or of any of those sins, nor is it my business to know.
But I do know this. They are most certainly guilty of the greatest of all sins, failing and even refusing to worship Almighty God.
This is the sin that, if they take it to the grave, will reveal what C.S. Lewis predicted when, in "The Problem of Pain", he wrote,
"I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of Hell are locked on the inside."
St. Jude described them when he wrote, "They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead."
And Our Lord described them when he said, "But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless."
You are right about one thing - Amoral they are and amoral they will stay, since the heart and soul of true morality is living with the constant awareness of the God who loves us and living our lives in such a way that we do not thwart that love.
These unfortunate people are loveless because do they know love, nor do they value it, and their willful ignorance of philosophy, theology, history and Scripture make them salt without flavor, wasting the lives God gave them, fit for nothing of value.
Be well and believe.
The truth hurts, doesn't it?
Hey Servorum, sock it to 'em! Right on!
The resignation of Pope Benedict.
Reminds us of Malachy's maledict
His prophecy unfurled
The end of the world
And tribulations it would inflict.
Saint Malachy, in year 1139,
Laid out his prediction divine.
His list of the popes
Dashes our hopes...
We're now at the end of the line!
Here is the gist of this tome:
It's time for man's final shalom.
Because Petrus Romanus
Will soon be upon us
To reign over destruction of Rome.
_____________________
Charles Ulysses Feney
In the secular world this scandal is at epidemic proportions, many times greater than anything ever seen within the Church, but Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict set the bar for boldly addressing this growing scourge that has taken in the entire world.
His resignation from the See of Peter is an act of selflessness that will be remembered and treasured by Catholics until the return of Christ.
Viva il Papa.
God bless you and all who believe..
Here is the smoking gun letter showing the direct involvement of the Pope in covering-up child sexual abuse!
URL: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/resource-files/churchdocs/EpistulaEnglish.htm
From my original post:
In addition to the issue of his health, I wonder if the Pope resigning had anything to do with the dirty laundry now coming to light.
While he as was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger he drafted and sent a letter to all bishops of the church to cover-up child sexual abuse by priests and other clergy, keeping all reports internal and not reporting to police or other authorities.
Further in his letter to the bishops, he states that nothing is to be done with this information (keeping it secret) until 10 years past the child's 18th birthday.
These are instructions that 1. Hide the truth, 2 . Protect the pedophiles from prosecution, and 3. Helps protect the church from lawsuits as such a time span of 10 years would likely be past the statute of limitations for legal action to be taken. This was not just his idea, but was a direct order from the Pope in office at the time, Pope Paul.
As the letter states "this letter sent by mandate of the supreme pontiff..." So both Pope Paul and Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) conspired to cover up child sexual abuse and protect the church.
Here is a link to the English translation of his cover-up letter, please read it:
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/resource-files/churchdocs/EpistulaEnglish.htm
I wonder if he believes in Heaven? If he believes in Heaven, I wonder if he believes in the God who dwells in Heaven?
_____________
Only if your definition of "heaven" is a big pot of puttanesca sauce.
All religions have tax exclusions and all non profits.
True. And I think it's past time that that was changed.
Heads of "non-profit" organizations should not be driving around in new top-of-the-line model Lexus cars. The organization should not own an expensive condo in Vail, Colorado, available for ski weekends for executives and their friends. Top executives of "non-profits" should not be hauling down salaries well over six-figures.
The ONLY money that should be tax-exempt is money that churches and non-profits can PROVE went directly to help those they claim to help.
So if a small church in Palooka, Pennsylvania hosts a daily soup kitchen, they can exempt from taxes all of the money they spent on food. They can also exempt a certain proportion (based on actual usage) of their gas and light bills. Labor (preparing the food, serving the food and cleaning up) would be from volunteers.
If a non-profit pays $3,000 in tuition to help a single mother get some job training, they can write off that $3,000. Plus a *reasonable* amount for office rental, and utilities. And modest salaries for the people that work there. A non-profit does not require a multi-million dollar building.
If the RCC was taxed on all of the income it receives each year that it *doesn't* spend actually "helping the poor", far in excess of 99.9% of all annual income would be taxed.
It has no police officers. It has no government.
_________
Did you just crawl out from under a rock?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corps_of_Gendarmerie_of_Vatican_City
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/vatileaks-21288/
http://www.vaticanstate.va/EN/State_and_Government/