When Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday morning that he would step down at the end of the month, the news spread around the world in minutes.
The last time this happened, things were a bit different.
When Pope Celestine V abdicated in December 1294, five months after being elected, just 37 years had passed since the first recorded meeting of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire, according to Ohio State University’s History Timeline.
Only three years had passed since the Crusades had ended, and a scant 79 years —a single human lifetime — had gone by since King John of England signed the Magna Carta.
A few scratches with a pencil will tell you Celestine abdicated 719 years ago. But let’s have some more context. That same year, Kubla Khan, the last of the great Mongol rulers, died.
The next year, Marco Polo returned from China, full of all sorts of stories about the Far East and its exciting products. Accounts vary, but he is widely credited with introducing Europe to the ideas of paper money, coal and eyeglasses, among other things.
The Knights Templar were still riding around. They wouldn’t disband for another two decades.
It would be another 30 years before iron cannons were first forged in France; 31 until the Aztecs settled their capital in Tenochtitlan; 53 years before bubonic plague, or the Black Death, first struck Europe.
Seventy-four years would pass before Zhu Yuanzhang threw the Mongols out of Beijing and established the Ming Dynasty, whose objects we now consider almost unfathomably old.
A schism, and a resignation
There would be another resignation of sorts in 1417, when Gregory XII stepped down at the end of the Great Western Schism, according to the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. But there were also two rival popes with their own followers, cardinals and administrators, and all quit or were forced out (the records are a bit sketchy), so it wasn’t quite the same as Celestine V’s simple act, and many historians simply don’t count the whole episode as a proper resignation.
But it would still have been long ago. It was less than a decade after the first windmills were built in Holland, according to the OSU history timeline, and just two years after the English army, under King Henry V, defeated the French at the famed Battle of Agincourt.
That was during the Hundred Years’ War. Remember that one from history classes? It’s not a problem if you don’t: William Shakespeare memorialized Henry’s bravery in “Henry V,” so there’s a relatively recent account. Mind you, Shakespeare died 397 years ago, which was 199 years after Gregory XII resigned and 322 years after Celestine.
But maybe even that doesn’t properly emphasize enough how long it has been since a pope resigned. A lot of things have happened since. Pretty much all of them, some would say.
That might be a stretch, but from an American perspective let’s look at it this way: In 1294, America was -- well, it wasn’t, as far as Europeans were concerned, except perhaps for some Vikings who are thought to have popped in once or twice.
That would change, of course. A mere 157 years after Celestine’s resignation, Christopher Columbus was born (Leonardo Da Vinci would be born a year later), and we all know that he went on to discover America. Except that many scholars say he didn’t.
Ah, well. He at least came close enough to get the credit in Europe, where a more modern culture that would eventually give rise to ours was forming.
Not terribly modern, of course. Pope Nicholas V would give his blessing to slavery 161 years after Celestine resigned. Printing presses would eventually come along, too.
In case you still don’t appreciate the rarity of Benedict’s announcement, consider this: 181 years after the last time this happened, Michelangelo was born, which meant the Sistine Chapel could get a proper paint job.
And just eight years after the great artist’s birth, Martin Luther was born, so Protestants would eventually have a stronger voice and a whole new schism would erupt for people to talk about.
But that’s been a while. And not much of note has happened since, unless of course you count the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Related:
'Heavy heart but complete understanding': Pope's resignation stuns leadership
Archbishop Dolan of New York: I'm startled, anxious at pope's resignation
From prisoner of war to pontiff: A timeline of Benedict XVI's life



Jee. Maybe he too realized that evolution is true and Creationism is baloney. That an early fetus is not conscious and cannot feel pain. That the inflationary Big Bang along with quantum fluctuations explain the universe without a need for a divine explanation. That the Church is nothing but a source of undue money and power. That women's rights can't be taken away from them. That he too is equal and a mortal human being. That this is the only life that exists, and the only thing that may survive is your genes. I can wish, can't I?
Tell that to Donnie Darko and his fourth-dimensional dilemma.
Are you a little bitter about something AR?
Actually the Vatican had stated that evoultion was true already.
yawn.geez, I fell asleep in the middle of ABs post.
Catty response. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAmNoFO_fag
I believe that this Pope is reacting to what happened to Cardinal Roger Mahoney. These two men have been severely battered on both a spiritual and temporal basis. They are afraid that the Catholic Church is currently viewed as an organization run by pedophiles & sexual deviants. The threat of excommunication no longer holds sway on educated informed people. They want a new start for their successors, and this appears to be the best way. The successor will condemn the past and claim a new beginning.
AB,
"Jee. Maybe he too realized that evolution is true and Creationism is baloney. That an early fetus is not conscious and cannot feel pain. That the inflationary Big Bang along with quantum fluctuations explain the universe without a need for a divine explanation."
You seem to be confusing the Catholic Church with Protestant fundamentalism. They are not the same thing by any means. The Catholic Church does not hold a fundamentalist view of the Bible. It also happens to be the oldest still surviving institution in the history of the Wester world. The historian, Thomas Macauley, who was not Catholic himself, was astounded by its longevity.
AB-1981, You have encapsulated it perfectly in your post!
AB...I agree that those are religious "faults"...but I don't think Benedict gives two shi*s about those things. He was far more fundamentalist than Pope John Paul II. I never cared for Benedict, myself. I think it is legitimately about his old age.
The Catholic Church teaches evolution not Creationism. Get your facts straight!
AB, how much research have you actually done regarding the science behind your statements? I would guess none. None of what you have said has been proven by anyone. The scientific evidence supporting your claims was done by others and yet you spout it out like it is fact. It is simply what you believe and nothing more. There is nothing wrong with believing that science can explain everything and god does not exist, but you can't shove your views down everyones throat any more than a bible thumper can shove scriptures down your throat.
As an example, lets talk about evolution. You don't know as fact that evolution explains the origins of mankind. Darwin himself said that there are some significant holes to be filled regarding his theory. If you can prove to me why sexual reproduction has beaten out asexual reproduction in almost every advanced life form, then the scientific community would love to hear your ideas. Or better yet, explain how sexual reproduction could possibly evolve in the first place.
Creationism hasn't been proven by anyone either, but if people want to believe it why is that of any concern to you? They believe one way and you believe another. This "I am right you are wrong" stance isn't helping anyone, including yourself. People believe in god not because they are dumb, but because mankind has a superior intellect than any other creature on earth. Mankind is aware of its own mortality, and the thought of no divine purpose to life or no afterlife is too much to bear for many people. If people want to believe that, let them.
Glen Quagmyre,
Good post! They also overlook the fact that many of the great scientists were also Catholics. They seem to believe that atheism is a prerequisite for being a scientist. It is not. Many, if not most, scientists have been believers in one religion or another. Heisenberg, the father of modern quantum mechanics was a devout Christian, and so is Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the Human Genome Project. Collins even wrote a book about his religious beliefs and how they relate to modern biology and the study of DNA entitled The Language of God.
I've been trying to find a way to say this for years!! Soooo well said, Glen.
Glen: "If you can prove to me why sexual reproduction has beaten out asexual reproduction in almost every advanced life form, then the scientific community would love to hear your ideas. Or better yet, explain how sexual reproduction could possibly evolve in the first place."
Because sexual reproduction is more pleasurable than asexual reproduction, ensuring that life forms will engage in reproductive activity more frequently, thus providing more chances of continuing the species. Funny, but that sounds like evolution to me.
In honor of the Pope resigning, WalMart is having a special sale for Priest's only:
Young boy's pants are half off.
(Thank You! Thank You! I'll be in town all week. Thank You!)
Good riddance to the Nazi sympathizer!
AB,
Your comment is right on the money.
AB, your remark shows a fundamental lack of intelligence and understanding. Many Christian churches recognize evolution including the: CATHOLIC, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and the United Church of Christ (not to be confused with the Church of Christ.) Try getting a basic education before posting in the future.
"Good riddance to the Nazi sympathizer!"
A ridiculous comment, from a clown, I see. Germans at one point in WW2 were forced to become Nazi Party members, my father included, when he was a boy. "Sympathizing" wasn't a requirment. Many members of the resistance who worked to overthrow Hitler had "official" membership status too. Didn't stop them from resisting and opposing hate.
As a survivor of priest rape and torture I often have questions no parishioners can ever seem to want to answer. The biggest is how should I understand that you parishioners hold a proven gang of pedophile pimps and rapists among your midst in such high esteem and call them all holy, worthy of heaven and adoration? I mean to be truly repentant of your sins, you must do all you can to correct the harm done. To be truly forgiven of your sins, you must totally repent for them. The leaders of the RCC have only given show, not true repentance for the evil that was done to us as children.
I have been writing a book about what happened to me called Our Father Who Art in Hell. In it I describe what happened to me in great detail. I tell about the rape and what that priest did that night to take my heart, soul, mind and body. I am also having a second section to this book, it involves all of the research I have done since I found my courage and came out of the priest abuse closet, out of the darkness that had controlled my life for 38 years, through horrifying nightmares, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide attempts, prison stays, my utter and complete hatred for the God and Jesus Christ I once followed and for the church I once loved with all of my heart as a child growing up in the Roman Catholic Church.
Yes I was a troubled young teen and I had run away from an abusive foster home only to be put into St Thomas More parish, where for one night, a priest there who was supposed to keep me safe from all harm, to protect me, spent the night committing evil upon me no one should have had to endure. Just because I was a troubled young teen gave this perverted degenerate no right to perpetrate upon me the crimes he did that night. This crime still haunts me to this day, and those who did this evil should pay.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition states:
2356 Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them.
After the publication of Edelweiss Pirates Operation Einstein it’s no wonder he stepped down, he is a war criminal. Yes we all knew he was a member of the Hitler Youth, but the book points out what he did, and how a resistance fighter who was hiding in a neighbors house was turned in by the pope to the SS. Villagers said he was trying to impress his father a local police man. When the SS turned up, the resistance fighter shot himself, so he would not get taken alive, tortured and forced to inform on other resistance members. The Catholic Church has known for years of this, but now it has broken, the book was published just weeks ago despite attempts to stop it, within hours of it going live on Kindle the Pope stepped down and the Church frantically tried to put in a successor. The novel is written by Prince Williams favorite author Mark A. Cooper, although a work of fiction, Cooper writes many facts, he tells both sides, not just the atrocities carried out by the Nazi’s but what the Jews did to Germany in 1933 to upset Hitler. While interviewing locals he discovered much more than he bargained for, he was given an audience with the Pope for his side of the story, the Church tried to persuade Cooper to just archive the story.
Te day before Cooper left Rome he was mugged and had his laptop stolen, he had however already sent a transcript to his agent in NY. The Church denied any connection and wished him no harm.
Who cares?
I almost do. Be a little lamb, and pass me a refreshing beverage.
The Pope is pooped.
And just think of all the predicted End of the World occurrences, and The Second Coming of Christ have transpired since the last papal resignation?
Most of those came from the Protestant sector, after the Reformation, and the ones that didn't had no Vatican sanction.
Does he get a pension?
So, now the cannonization of a protector of pedahile priests begins. The resigning Pope heads an institution that can't seem to make up its mind as to whether a fetus is a numan being or not when the Papal treasury is at risk. The president of Penn State was forced to resign over a much smaller case of child molestation without any evidence that he helped the offending person other than not reporting it to the police. The Pope actually, actively cover-up many cases and acted to protect the pediphiles. What a farce the whitewashing of the Pope is that is going to be imposed upon us. Is it about time the media actually stops the engrandizement of the criminal elements among us?
I could not agree with you more Duggan. Enough is enough. Can he still be tried for his crimes if he quits his job??
But the Church, and the Vatican-led clergy, is organized by Biblical/Canonical law, not secular law. While secular law states that anyone under the age of 18 is a minor and a 'child', back when Biblical law was codified after the Nicene Council put together the Bible, sex with children was a common, accepted practice--in fact, it was vital to the survival of the human population.
Life was short and hard, and infant mortality was high, and so in order to have at last one child survive to adulthood it as deemed necessary to start a female childbearing as soon as they were physically capable of it. Joseph and Mary were likely teen parents; Jewish boys could be married as young as 16, girls could betrothed soon after birth and the marriage would be consummated once she'd had her first 'emission from the privates' OR she'd turned 16, whichever came first. According to the Bible, Mary was engaged to Joseph at the time God told her she would give birth to the Messiah, but she was not yet married to Joseph--which means she hadn't had her first period yet. Mary therefore was under the age of 16 when she had Jesus (perhaps much younger; I had my first period at the age of 7.)
The Bible contains no passages specifically forbidding one to touch anyone else's child sexually. It only contains strictures against 'uncovering the nakedness'of one's own children. Moses himself enjoined the israelites when they conquered their enemies to take for themselves only the little ones among the females who have not known the act of lying with a man and to kill the rest Therefore, by the laws of the Church, the 'pedophile priests' are not guilty of sin--they may have violated an oath of celibacy (depending on what their order requires) but are not guilty of sin. Since Church law trumps secular law, the church may not feel obliged to hand over their clergy to be judged by secular law--God's law (i.e. the Bible) is the only one they recognize.
And remember also that they can put whatever they want in the Bible, look at how it has changed. I have a Bible published in 1961, and it says 'thou shalt not lie with a man as with a woman, it is a detestable thing'. A more recent 2011 copy changes 'detestable' to the much stronger word 'abomination'.
Using your logic, all blacks rob liquor stores, because I've seen a lot of stories about that too. You think you're smart, but you're only perpetuating the hate in society by spreading such garbage.
Amanda, having sex with minor of the opposite sex for the purpose of pro-creation, while wrong in my opinion, is significantly different then a male priest getting his rocks off with an Altar BOY! I do not understand your comparable logic here.
Somehow, I am sure that there is much more to this story, and I dont think it would reflect in a good way on the pope. I am making an educated cynical guess.
Jeff Smith:
The point I was trying to make was that the Church feels their clergy is only responsible for violations of canonical law--and canonical law does not hold that sex with children is wrong. It was in response to Duggan's assertion that the Church should stop covering for the pedophile priests.
Priests didn't just abuse altar boys, girls are abused and molested too. Boys were simply the most available since girls don't serve in the Catholic church. But per the literal words of the Bible, sex with children is not wrong or a sin. It was accepted practice back when the Bible was written.
Amanda, as much as I hate to burst your bubble, but have you never heard of nuns? They serve and I'm sure service the males in the Catholic Church.
I have two major bitches with this Pope. He was a Nazi and he covered up child abuse, knowingly on both counts. Other than that he's just another old man, but he wears skirts.
Not a Catholic but I must respect this guy if for no other reason than for him to realize he no longer could successfully perform his duties. That admission speaks to his humility.
Nonsense, you and I have no idea why he is quitting so until you know don't give him more credit than he deserves.
there are almost no duties cannot be delegated with a simple papal seal. he's abdicating coz he's the center of a pedo-bomb about to blow up real huge.
Jwright - he's basically divorcing GOD by doing this, because whe he accepted the role of pope - it was UNTIL DEATH DO US PART.
in sickness and in health, this was to be his job until he croaked.
I agree with Yus - the next bomb is about to blow, and he's getting out of dodge before it happens.
Mark my words, he's going to go off to seminary somewhere and take a vow of silence, so that he doesnt have to answer to all the evils he's covered up, participated and authorized.
He might be able to evade public persecution, but if there really is a GOD - this man isnt going to heaven.
Unless that GOD is the bipolar crazy m'fer that I think he is, why then - they'll roll out the red carpet for this spineless pedophile protector.
Abdication?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_resignation
Despite its common usage in discussion of Papal resignations, the term "abdication" is not used in the official documents of the Church for resignation by a Pope.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_resignation#History
History
The Catholic Encyclopedia notes the historically obscure resignations of Pope Pontian (230-235) and Pope Marcellinus (296-308), the historically postulated resignation of Pope Liberius (352-366), and that one (unspecified) catalogue of popes lists Pope John XVIII as resigning office in 1009 and ending his life as a monk.
The first historically unquestionable Papal resignation is that of Pope Benedict IX in 1045. In order to rid the Church of the scandalous Benedict, Pope Gregory VI gave Benedict "valuable possessions" to resign the papacy in his favour. Gregory himself resigned in 1046 because the arrangement he had entered into with Benedict was considered simony. Gregory's successor, Pope Clement II, died in 1047 and Benedict IX became Pope again.
The best-known resignation of a Pope is that of Pope Celestine V in 1294. After only five months of pontificate, he issued a solemn decree declaring it permissible for a Pope to resign, and then did so himself. He lived two more years as a hermit and then prisoner of his successor Pope Boniface VIII and was later canonised. Celestine's decree, and that of Boniface concurring, ended any doubt among canonists about the possibility of a valid Papal resignation.
Pope Gregory XII (1406-1415) resigned in 1415 in order to end the Western Schism, which had reached the point where there were three claimants to the Papal throne: Roman Pope Gregory XII, Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII, and Pisan Antipope John XXIII. Before resigning he formally convened the already existing Council of Constance and authorized it to elect his successor.
On 11 February 2013, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI will resign 28 February, due to infirmity from advanced age.
This is a great story. Isn't history great?
We have come so far as a civilization.
Yeah...I liked it too, especially the line:
I know he said he never wanted the job in the first place, and I heard it was a preference among the Cardinals last time that they pick someone older so that this would be a short papacy. Maybe they didn't think they could handle anyone like John Paul II again so quickly, and maybe they'll go for someone younger who might make some major changes. Then again, I'm just a lapsed Catholic who reads the news, I don't know any more than anyone else. I think they should choose someone from Latin America.
At least he knows when to retire! How can anyone lead an organization that has screwed up humanity so vastly over the last 1000-1500 years? Stay sane, don't go to church!
Yes, and the western world would flourish without christianity? I see those arabs are doing a lot to improve the lot of humanity. Can't even make a camel work correctly. For all you haters, fact is you wouldn't be posting without christianity. Burning folks at the stake for doing good would be common practice. There would be no semblense of either right or wrong as it may be. Its a point, idiots like yourself cant grasp.
The Church like the Taliban is still in the Middle Ages, so it doesn't make much difference that a resignation hasn't happened since then. It's just like yesterday.
Sounds like a bunch of people who need to get jobs and if you have jobs get back to work and stop spewing your BS during office hours.
"Sounds like a bunch of people who need to get jobs and if you have jobs get back to work and stop spewing your BS during office hours."
Says the person sitting behind a computer screen and spewing his BS during office hours.
I don't go to the office for another two hours. What's your excuse?
Blah, blah, blah, church is bad, pedophile crimes (God will judge them even if the system fails), fetuses are nothing but tissue (you were one once), homosexuals are just like us (ok, whatever)...same old rants every article. I pop in and look at comments once every 6 months or so. Nothing ever changes, same old spewing, same old barbs, same old arguments... It is like owning a cat --Get off the Counter, Don't eat my food, pee in the litter box. Der Der Der... ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Someone probably has something horrible to expose about him...like covering up for and protecting pedophiles and oppressing females. OOPS....MY BAD, this is already a well known FACT!
Bye Bye Wolf in a Sheeps dress...
and don't let the door hit you in the ass.
yes, and your a child peodophile murdering, fudge packing evil psycopath .see -not hard to call people things. Now defend yourself Joe paterno. I guess guilty. Where is guilotine when you need one.
....he (Marco Polo) is widely credited with introducing Europe to the ideas of paper money, coal and eyeglasses, among other things.
And pasta I believe. Then tomatoes came from the new world. What DID the Italians eat before that?
Sardines on crackers? Maybe? And wine, lots of wine. Grapes. And bread with olive oil and sardines.
One of my favorite lines from the Sopranos was when Tony Sopranos' kid was studying Marco Polo in school. The kid asks his dad "Is it true that the Chinese invented pasta?" and Tony's answer was "Think about it...why would people who eat with sticks invent something you gotta eat with a fork?' haha
If the Italians didn't invent it (like the Romans did almost everything else) then they certainly perfected it. Why are we discussing pasta on this board, anyway? Theo - they eat eel at Christmas and the ancient Romans liked a fish caught at a certain point in the Tiber, where they dumped, um, the "toilet" water. The food there is good today, though.
this pedo cover up thing is so big when it blows up it literally could be the end of vatican reign. he had to step down, just so when it does blow up, which will be soon, hopefully there is a chance the church can still have salvageable remnants that it can still move on from. popehood is a lifetime appointment, even when you're dying and sickly in bed, you are not supposed to abdicate until you draw no more breath. the fact he's doing it tells you how bad it's going to be. you just watch.
BENEDICT: "If Nixon could do it, so can the pope."
I'm not Catholic but when I read the news my heart was incredibly heavy for all of the Catholic faithful. I literally prayed for this Pope's soul. The Pope literally couldn't take another minute of waking up to all of that pomp and circumstance, the blessings, pontificating and the likes for this filthy, honey boo-boo obsessed world. No matter what any of us believe individually. 5% of the entire population knows the complete truth of this world. We were all, each and every one of us, fed a complete misrepresentation of all things SPIRITUAL, NOT RELIGIOUS. Big difference. Religion is EXPENSIVE and designed to oppress and control through guilt. The life YOU are living right now is the LIFE you need to concern YOURSELF with. This IS YOUR HEAVEN OR HELL. YOU are YOUR own WORST ENEMY/DEVIL. Although there is REAL EVIL ENERGY in this world just as there is POSITIVE ENERGY in this world. There was an ENLIGHTENED individual who walked this earth a long time ago who tapped into the complete POSITIVE ENERGY of this UNIVERSE which endowed him with all POWER (the power to HEAL, SAVE, LOVE.....) we have all been gifted with that same power. It begins with SELF. HEALING SELF, LOVING SELF and in turn PROJECTING that LOVE collectively for a better humanity.
The POPE realized he didn't need the giant hat and septre to get that point across. I wish him LOVE and LIGHT for the rest of HIS journey. Perhaps the MASSES will use their own hard earned money to fix up their personal situations (the UNIVERSE doesn't need the 10% cut) and start by LOVING one person at a time.
One LOVE everyone!
I enjoyed the time-line comparisons. It was nice to know what was going on in 1294.
Yeah the old boy was missing the hofbrau on Saturday night and sleeping in on Sunday morning.....
By pure coincidence my wife and I watched HBO's "Mea Maxima Culpa" this weekend. Pope Benedict was one of those in the church who protected pedophile priests (and the church) from justice. A suit lodged against Georg Ratzinger and the Holy See was brought to light during the film. After watching this film I am not surprised by his resignation. Was there cause and effect? - I don't know...
The RC Church is the richest organization in the world. Real Estate and art collections alone are worth more than the world. On the other hand, little Baptist churches in small towns don't have those kinds of assets. The Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Episcopalians don't either. But, for every Catholic priest diddling the altar boys, there are youth ministers and other "men of the cloth" doing the kids, too. Guess why you don't hear about that? $$$$$$$$$
so does apple computer which is worth billions...whats your point? That they sell a product like everyone else in the world that has ever made a buck.
Yep - you are correct. ministers, youth counselors, and pastors in protestant churches are just as likely as priests to be committing pedophilia, and I'm certain it's being covered up by their smaller organizations as well. It's just not reported in the same way because of the historical significance (and deep purse) of the RC church.
Before reading this article, I thought having a major in history was useless. Also, it's "The Ohio State University", tyvm.
lot of anti christians posting. I see satan -- if you do have any belief in evil - is alive and well.
jollyjoker,
Satan wears a suit and tie and he has a big bag of nuclear weapons so he can get his way.
I'm going to start a conspiracy and blame it on Paul Ryan..
Just one Pope left...
Petrus Romanus, qui paſcet oues in multis tribulationibus: quibus tranſactis ciuitas ſepticollis diruetur, & Iudex tremẽdus iudicabit populum ſuum.[71] Finis.
268
112 Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The end.
Unknown
Unknown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_the_Popes