Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the shy German theologian who tried to reawaken Christianity in a secularized Europe but will forever be remembered as the first pontiff in 600 years to resign from the job, died Saturday at age 95. (He had been in failing health.) Pope Francis will celebrate his funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday, an unprecedented event in which a current pope will celebrate the funeral for a former one, per the AP. Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, 2013, when he announced, in his typical, soft-spoken Latin, that he no longer had the strength to run the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church that he had steered for eight years through scandal and indifference.
His dramatic decision paved the way for the conclave that elected Francis as his successor. The two popes then lived side-by-side in the Vatican gardens, an unprecedented arrangement that set the stage for future “popes emeritus” to do the same. The Vatican said Benedict’s remains would be on public display in St. Peter’s Basilica starting Monday for the faithful to pay their final respects. The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had never wanted to be pope, planning at age 78 to spend his final years writing in the “peace and quiet” of his native Bavaria.
Instead, he was forced to follow the footsteps of the beloved St. John Paul II and run the church through the fallout of the clerical sex abuse scandal and then a second scandal that erupted when his own butler stole his personal papers and gave them to a journalist. Being elected pope, he once said, felt like a “guillotine” had come down on him. Nevertheless, he set about the job with a single-minded vision to rekindle the faith in a world that, he frequently lamented, seemed to think it could do without God.
May God grant him eternal peace.
Then the Vatican tools elected a full on Commie to complete the corruption of the church.
I’ll stick with a Bible reading church thank-you
Not unexpected, but this feels like a sad and ominous way for this crappy year to end. We’re left with both a Pope and a President of very questionable legitimacy as we head into a new year with every institution and standard of western civilization imploding.
LMA—you formulated my distress into the right words
Meh. He was spiritually dead long before today.
Further proof that only the good die young.
Little Morphin’ Annie
DECEMBER 31, 2022 AT 8:37 AM
“We’re left with both a Pope and a President of very questionable legitimacy as we head into a new year with every institution and standard of western civilization i̶m̶p̶l̶o̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ BEING DESTROYED ON PURPOSE.
It’s sad to hear when anybody’s eternity begins. All choices have been finalized on the last breath and their eternal destination can’t be changed. As Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” I hope that Benedict was.
“…an unprecedented event in which a current pope will celebrate the funeral for a former one, per the AP.”
…whelp, beats what a current pope did to a former pope for political reasons in the past.
Search “Cadaver Synod” for further details…
Don’t care.
The last one I paid attention to a bit was JP-II due to his participation with Reagan, Thatcher, & Poland to help bring down the CCCP.
…and YES, The Cardinals VOTED for this current SHIT!
Kcir – They Voted 4 this Sh#t
DECEMBER 31, 2022 AT 12:34 PM
“…and YES, The Cardinals VOTED for this current SHIT!”
Just another day of pedos picking pedos to protect pedos. It’s not love, its omerta. That’s what Epstein Island and many more such places are all about, you have to be on camera raping a child before you can be a member of the club.
Popes and cardinals are no different.
I actually know of 2 people i went to High School with who committed suicide after becoming addicts. They were initially abused repeatedly by priests at a very young age.
One was the son of a Catholic Teacher who continued to stay with the Toronto District Catholic School Board. She was my Grade 4 Teacher.
R.I.P. Reverend Ratzinger; judgement awaits.