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Subscribe to RSSAlthough the Pope's announcement that he would abdicate his position seemed sudden, Benedict reportedly made his decision in 2012 after a trip to Cuba and Mexico. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI cited failing health for his historic decision to step aside, but it is increasingly clear that the rich seam of scandal and strife running through the Vatican weighed heavily on his mind.
Allegations of corruption at the very heart of the Roman Catholic Church were "great challenges" for the pontiff, according to his brother who on Tuesday referred to them coyly as "irregularities."
Experts said only the appointment of a strong replacement willing to exert a tighter grip on its divided hierarchy would succeed in giving the church a clean break from its troubles.
"They are going to need a reformer who can bring management skills," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, S.J., author of "Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church." "After all, it is often said that a good bishop needs to be like Jesus with an MBA."
The biggest headache for Pope Benedict XVI was the issue of alleged child sex abuse and the extent to which it had been ignored in some quarters of the church.
But it was the Vatileaks affair that fostered "perceptions of in-fighting, cover-ups and disarray," according to John Allen, Rome-based senior correspondent at the National Catholic Reporter.
Division between rival camps within the church hierarchy — on one side, the pope’s ally and Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, and on the other, state figures from previous papal regimes — motivated the illegal leaking of thousands of documents that portrayed Bertone in a poor light.
In October, the pope’s former butler Paolo Gabriele was given an 18-month prison sentence after being found guilty of stealing of the documents, which included some of Benedict’s private papers and letters alleging corruption within the church.
Letters and memos show that a senior Vatican figure, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, was removed from his post not long after blowing the whistle on nepotism and overpayments for goods and services that he said had wasted millions of dollars, including more than $500,000 on Christmas nativity figures.
Bertone was also accused of ousting the reformist head of the Institute for Works of Religion — the so-called ‘Vatican Bank’ – and, bizarrely, of being involved in a plot to smear the editor of a Catholic newspaper as a homosexual.
The litany of scandals that surfaced during Benedict’s papacy is a “long and not especially edifying list,” Allen said, although he added that some revelations had been exaggerated. “You shouldn’t believe everything you read about the Vatican in Italian newspapers.”
Vatican historians do not have to look far for evidence of similar problems. The 1984 payout of more than $200 million to creditors of Banco Ambrosiano was an acknowledgement of the role church funds had played in the collapsed bank’s dealings. The bank’s chairman, Robert Calvi, was a financial adviser to the Vatican. He was found hanging from London’s Blackfriars Bridge in 1982.
“Like any other workplace, the Vatican needs to have in place a system that ensures there are no personal interests in awarding financial contracts and so on,” said Reese. “The problem is that the church has been its own auditor and policeman.”
“The last two popes have been academic characters, and academics are not the best at reforming organizations.”
Allen said: "The Vatican is going to need somebody who can act as a strong rudder, to bang heads together if necessary and to be seen as above the various factions. It's a very tough job."
Javier Barbancho / AFP - Getty Images
Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Look back at his life from childhood through his papacy.
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Pope's hometown in disbelief over resignation
Surprise, excitement in St. Peter's Square after pope's announcement
Pope's brother: Pontiff was troubled by butler's revelations
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Well, it's about time we got someone braver in as pope. Someone who will not let the countries press charges against our priests without first getting approval to do so, and protect our priest's rights. This guy has let slandar get out, and not done anything to combat it... Their job should be to protect the church, and the good name of the church, not bow to political pressure. I for one pray for change.
Chris
I hope you are being sarcastic...
How wrong I was, I always thought the roll of the Papacy was first and foremost to protect the weak against the powerful... not only the church. I always thought that countries had their own laws and were not dependent on the papal consent. I thought we were living in the 21st century, not in the 15th!
Chirs150 - Right, because the best way to shield the good name of an organization is to prevent investigations into wrongdoing by its members.
Protecting child abusers is the reason Benedict was controversial in the first place! And you want someone even MORE complicit in the affair?
The Pope's job is not to protect the church's worldly institutions and traditions. It is to protect the Church, the covenant between man and God. You don't protect that covenant by driving everyone in the world away from your faith.
He could have taken the time to transfer the priests back to vatican city before anything went down, and helped curb a lot of this bad press... They knew about this stuff long in advance, and did nothing to aid the priests and protect their rights as members of the cloth... And these laws should not change just because we live in the 21st century... They should remain for all time. They can protect the weak, that is not my issue, just also protect the name of the church. Get the priests out of those parishs, and move them to a new country in order to protect both... He allowed these priests to be brought up on charges, and the name of the church to be dragged through the mud... Not right.
Are you serious? Move the pedophile priests to new countries so they can continue their vile ways??? The church was dragged through the mud because of their own actions in protecting these priests. These child molesters are not men of God and prison is exactly where they belong!
Who the heck cares about the polytheistic Catholic Church. Thou shalt not worship any graven images before me saith the lord, except, St Joseph, Mary, St Peter, St Paul, the Pope.....The popes of history are like a most wanted for corruption, mayhem and mass murder. The Inquisition, Invasion, conquest pillage and genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and but a few good examples. Between 1492-1900 Numbers of innocent dead in the double digit millions. How people can continue to follow and worship such a thing is beyond comprehension. Say a few hail Mary's for me!
Simple solution. The next Pope needs not be an ex-Nazi, pedophile protecting misogynist!
I agree with Wants to know. "El Raton" Ratzinger protected pedophiles instead of innocent children. That's a fact. I wouldn't trust any Catholic "leader" around my children.
Chris, What are you smoking? Your Priests have gotten away with rape and God know what else. Got news for you. No one should have to hide behind a frock of the Pope to be questioned about child molesters in the Church's ranks. You are one of those sheep that they shear each week. Think Chris think! Maybe the new Pope will get rid of priests that do wrong or should they hide them as they have before?
I thought the concept of papal interdiction died with the Reformation. Apparently I was wrong.
Hello folks, Wow Chris! I didn't think they made people like you anymore unless you are part of Opus Dei. Don't tell me your involved in corporal mortification and self flagellation. If so, you are in a serious time warp!
It is precisely this type of mindset that has the Church in the mess its in now.
HIDE pedophiles in other countries..?? ASK for permission to prosecute..??
Sheeple is what is destroying the Catholic Church...that, and power-hungry money-grubbing 'anything as long as MY a$$ is protected' leaders.
If the Catholic Church refuses to acknowledge that it exists in the present, not the past, then it will see a rapid reduction of their numbers worldwide.
Gee Whiz People,
I think Chris is being snide and sarcastic, a kinda ham-handed version of Swift's suggestion that the starving Irish eat their children.
As a survivor of priest abuse and torture I have searched for a lot of answers to my questions but I have found very few of these answers. So I started my own research for a book I am writing on my experience with what happened to me at the hands of a degenerate priest from St Thomas More parish in Durham NH and then I will be adding all the cases, the stories and the people involved in this evil. But I just wanted to share this:
This is a list I have compiled so far on Priests, Brothers, Bishops, Cardinals etc who are involved in the Priest Rape and Coverups of the Roman Catholic Church. It contains 200 names. From the church's own documents and court documents, for each person named, there is direct proof of their participation of the cover up of systematic rape of children or, in the case of the priests, have been either convicted, or accused with reliable evidence, of raping children. I have barely scratched the surface trust me.
1.Pope Benedict XVI
2.Cardinal Timothy Dolan
3.Cardinal Justin Rigali
4.Cardinal Bernard Law
5.Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua
6.Cardinal Richard Cushing
7.Cardinal Humberto Medeiros
8.Cardinal William J Leveda
9.Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick
10.Cardinal Roger Mahoney
11.Cardinal Angelo Sodano
12.Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
13.Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër
14.Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
15.Cardinal Sean Brady
16.Cardinal John Krol
17.Cardinal Desmond Connell
18.Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor
19.Cardinal George Pell
20.Archbishop Romulo G. Valles
21.Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo
22.Archbishop Ernesto Antolin Salgado
23.Archbishop Juliusz Paetz
24.Archbishop William E Cousins
25.Archbishop Elden Francis Curtiss
26.Archbishop Philip Wilson
27.Bishop Michael Malone
28.Bishop Stanislaw Wielgus
29.Bishop Michael Patrick Driscoll
30.Bishop Tod Brown
31.Bishop William J Lynn
32.Bishop Kurt Krenn
33.Bishop Manuel Moreno
34.Bishop John B McCormack
35.Bishop Robert Finn
36.Bishop Leopoldo C. Jaucian
37.Bishop Martin Jumoad
38.Bishop Rodolfo F. Beltran
39.Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos
40.Bishop Roger Vangheluwe
41.Bishop John Aloysius Ward
42.Bishop Brendan Comiskey
43.Bishop Donal J. Herlihy
44.Bishop John Magee
45.Bishop Séamus Hegarty
46.Bishop Donal Murray
47.Bishop Joseph R. Cistone
48.Bishop Georg Müller
49.Bishop Raymond Lahey
50.Bishop Alphonsus Liguori Penney
51.Bishop Joseph Anthony Ferrario
52.Bishop Lawrence Soens
53.Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien
54.Bishop Gerard Louis Frey
55.Bishop Raymond W. Lessard
56.Bishop Leo Clarke
57.Bishop Roger Mahoney
58.Coadjutor Bishop John J. Myers
59.Priest Michael Charles Glennon
60.Priest Michael Aulsebrook
61.Priest Frank Klep
62.Priest David Rapon
63.Priest Gerald Ridsdale
64.Priest Denis McAlinden
65.Priest Brian Lucas
66.Priest Wayland Brown
67.Priest Oliver O'Grady
68.Priest Arthur O'Brien
69.Priest Edward Avery
70.Priest John McDevitt
71.Priest Paul LeBrun
72.Priest Joseph Briceno
73.Priest Mark Lehman
74.Priest Stephen Kiesle
75.Priest Joseph Bukoski
76.Priest Franc Frantar
77.Priest Thomas Adamson
78.Priest James Hickey
79.Priest Patrick Hughes
80.Priest Denis Daly
81.Priest Eugene Greene
82.Priest Seán Fortune
83.Priest Federico Lombardi
84.Priest Paul McGennis
85.Priest Gilbert Gauthe
86.Priest John Kinsey
87.Priest William Manahan
88.Priest Paul Couch
89.Priest Bernard Green
90.Priest Piers Grant-Ferris
91.Priest John Kinsey
92.Priest Richard White
93.Priest Jeremiah McGrath
94.Priest James Carragher
95.Priest James Robinson
96.Priest Micheál Ledwith
97.Priest Alexander Bede Walsh
98.Priest André Vanderlyn
99.Priest Robert Borremans
100.Priest Joris Horvath
101.Priest Bruno Vos
102.Priest Jef Van den Ouweland
103.Priest Marc Vangheluwe
104.Priest Bart Aben
105.Priest Louis Dupont
106.Priest André Louis
107.Priest Gilbert Hubermont
108.Priest Jean-François Gysels
109.Priest Ivan ÄuÄek
110.Priest Drago LjubiÄiÄ
111.Priest František Merta
112.Priest François Lefort
113.Priest Pierre Dufour
114.Priest Henri Lebras
115.Priest Denis Vadeboncoeur
116.Priest Bruno Kieffer
117.Priest Jean Luc Heckner
118.Priest Father Peter Hullermann
119.Priest Fraul Cabonce
120.Priest Christopher Basil "Kit" Cunningham
121.Priest Brenden Smyth
122.Priest Samuel Martinez
123.Priest Stanley Gana
124.Priest Francis Lundy
125.Priest Ciro Benedettini
126.Priest Fredrico Lombardi
127.Priest George Bredemann
128.Priest Michael Hill
129.Priest William Manahan
130.Priest John Lloyd
131.Priest Joseph Jordan
132.Priest Thomas Smolich
133.Priest Charles Leonard Connor
134.Priest Jerold Linder
135.Priest Santiago
136.Priest Shawn Ratigan
137.Priest Paul R Shanley
138.Priest Joseph E. Birmingham
139.Priest Ronald Paquin
140.Priest John Hanlon
141.Priest Paul Mahan
142.Priest Ernest Tourigney
143.Priest Richard Matte
144.Priest James Doyle
145.Priest James Grennan
146.Priest Seán Fortune
147.Priest Daniel McCormack
148.Priest William Goltz
149.Priest Juan Carlos Duran
150.Priest James Porter
151.Priest Edward Paquette
152.Priest William Roach
153.Priest Neil Doherty
154.Priest Anthony Mercieca
155.Priest Lawrence C Murphy
156.Priest Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul
157.Priest Eleuterio Ramos
158.Priest Albert Davis
159.Priest Siegfried Widera
160.Priest Charles Barnett
161.Priest Vincent Ryan
162.Priest David O'Hearn
163.Priest John Sidney Denham
164.Priest James Fletcher
165.Priest Charles Engelhardt
166.Priest Kelvin Gerald Sharkey
167.Priest Adrian Richard Van Klooster
168.Priest Roger Michael Bellemore
169.Priest Julio Grassi
170.Priest Tarcísio Tadeu Spricigo
171.Priest Marcial Maciel
172.Priest Geraldo da Consolação Machado
173.Priest Felix Barbosa Carreiro
174.Priest José Andrés Aguirre Ovalle
175.Priest Gilbert Gauthe
176.Priest Neville Joseph Creen
177.Priest Peter Lewis Comensoli
178.Diocesan Director of Youth Vincent Kieran Kiss
179.Reverend James "Ron" Gonsalves
180.Marist Brother Ross Murrin
181.Brother Michael Evans
182.Brother Gerard William Dick
183.Brother John William Chute
184.Brother David Christian
185.Brother Robert Charles Best
186.Brother Gregory Ferguson
187.Brother William Stanley Irwin
188.Brother Kevin Francis Phillips
189.Brother Brian Joseph Spillane
190.Msgr. David Cappo
191.Msgr. William Roach
192.Msgr. Dale Fushek
193.Msgr. Michael A. Harris
194.Msgr. Micheál Ledwidth
195.Msgr. Georg Ratzinger
196.Msgr. James Malloy
197.Canon Martin Clancy
198.Padre Wolfgang S
199.Teacher Bernard Shero
200.Layman Daniel Bernardo Beltrán Murguía Ward
Pope Benedict wrote the secrets of the Roman Catholic faith. If a person has the call of God they will not steal, lie or molest children. The perverted priests who are without the call of God is too depressing for all of us. They have been destroying the holy Catholic faith, and their followers- driving centuries of seeking truth through prayer and education to destruction. This is why I believe the Pope resigned and his teachings have been miraculous in the Holy Spirit but the uncalled phony clergy priests have now been receiving judgement for their evil child molestations for several years and destroying the church with them. With the spiritual truths and reason unique to the Roman Catholic Church, I cannot leave but must continue to seek Jesus.
Thank you for your books Papa Benedict
I'd seek Jesus elsewhere. You don't even need a church or a priest.
Ratzinger aka "The Rat" protected his pedophile buddies. Remember that.
Huh? Benedict wrote the secrets of the Faith? Did I miss something in my 60 years as a Catholic?
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.
As a fellow survivor of priest abuse, Frank, my account is different. Pope Benedict defrocked my abuser in 2005 after a new diocesan bishop finally held him accountable (something his previous bishop did not, either intentionally or by supreme ignorance). Since statutes of limitations did not allow for the criminal prosecution of this priest, I am grateful to the pope for making sure that he never functions as a priest again.
In my own research, I have found Pope Benedict to be on our side, and what has been said about him by many from the NY Times to Der Spiegel to be completely untrue. He has endured many false accusations and irrational demands that "he should have known or done better!" while quietly making working towards solutions to this horrible scourge on our church. I know you will certainly disagree with me, but I am a strong supporter of Pope Benedict and know him to take this matter seriously. God bless him.
Meanwhile, I hope you continue to heal and find peace. You will, however, never find it in hatred and lies against those who are are on the side of right. Don't let your hurt destroy you. Take care.
Let it crash and burn.
Good luck with that my friend. All you folks who think the Catholic church will fail should really think about those comments. It has been going for over 2,000 years and has gone through similar turmoil.
The church has been losing it's appeal for years and has closed hundreds of churches all over the country. People are sick of how they are held hostage by mortal men who think that they can save the soul of a person, when all the time they have covered for immoral priests and thrown their own people to the wolves cloaked in a robe. They will not give communion to a known homosexual but will give communion to a priest who raped boys. They only care about all the money that they get and would not hold a priest accountable for what he had done, they just moved him and let him continue to abuse children. What is the job of a pope? Seems that people think he is some kind of god, he is just a man. He has no special powers.
It would be nice to see a reformer take over. However, I doubt it will happen and it will be business as usual for the Vatican.
There's a "Reformer" coming alright-----Unfortunately for the church, He will be the precursor of the AntiChrist. PETER THE ROMAN
Yes, Peter the Roman, because both John and Revelations contain the name of the anti-Christ. I shall ignore such idiotic comments as Raymond's.
The likelihood of the next Pope being a reformer like John XXIII is slim. JPII during his papacy appointed very conservative bishops to the College of Cardinals. And since the pope is elected from that body.....
Years ago I had a Roman Peter till my wife threatened to cut it off.
jwright - you're being idiotic on this story too, eh?
I sincerely doubt that the Catholic Church believes in equality for all, given the awful manner in which they treat women. I don't think Jesus & Mary would be pleased at men in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
I have a question that just dawn to me. What on earth is the Pope doing with his hand raised? He sees angels or what, or is he trying to reach for the clouds, the star, the sun or what? Another thing, He has a ring on his right index finger which is a symbol in germany of a married man? but he is not married! Can someone explain that to me?
Most likely he is waving to the faithful. And the ring he wears on his right hand contains the seal of his papacy. It is not a wedding ring. Nuns wear wedding rings because when they take their vows, they are "married" to Christ.
I don't know about you all, but marriage in the teachings of the church and the code of canon is between a man and a woman. Where in the heck did they get the idea that a priest is married to the church. Where is that in the code of canon or the teaching of the church! Not that they can't get married which they can, but don't say you are married to the church, really do you have sex with the church too, do you have children with the church too, remember, mary and joseph had childrens.
Is it not true that Nuns marry Jesus?
Pedrora, don't know where you got the concept that priests are married to the Church, they are not. And priests cannot marry. To do so would result in them being defrocked. As part of taking of orders, nuns are "married" to Jesus.
Ain't no explanation, pedrora. The Pope answers only to himself,not women in the church or anybody else. This Pope hid molestations and to boot was a Nazi. What's the next one gonna be, one of the molesters? Seems that behind the skirts lies the heart of a pisspoor person.
I was married to a Catholic, my first marriage, and I decided I wanted nothing to do with that institution, more than 40 years ago, when we went in for counseling since I was deciding if I wanted if I wanted to convert, and after the session, the priest told me to take her home and give her a good screwing. Methinks he wanted to.
The Church carries out its office of sanctifying in a special way in the sacred liturgy, which is an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy, by the use of signs perceptible to the senses, our sanctification is symbolized and, in a manner appropriate to each sign, is brought about. Through the liturgy a complete public worship is offered to God by the head and members of the mystical body of Christ.
This worship takes place when it is offered in the name of the Church, by persons lawfully deputed and through actions approved by ecclesiastical authority.
The sanctifying office is exercised principally by Bishops, who are the high priests, the principal dispensers of the mysteries of God and the moderators, promoters and guardians of the entire liturgical life in the Churches entrusted to their care.
The sacraments of the New Testament were instituted by Christ the Lord and entrusted to the Church. As actions of Christ and of the Church, they are signs and means by which faith is expressed and strengthened, worship is offered to God and our sanctification is brought about. Thus they contribute in the most effective manner to establishing, strengthening and manifesting ecclesiastical communion. Accordingly, in the celebration of the sacraments both the sacred ministers and all the other members of Christ's faithful must show great reverence and due care.
Since the sacraments are the same throughout the universal Church, and belong to the divine deposit of faith, only the supreme authority in the Church can approve or define what is needed for their validity. It belongs to the same authority, or to another competent authority in accordance with can. 838 ß3 and 4, to determine what is required for their lawful celebration, administration and reception and for the order to be observed in their celebration.
The sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the blessed Eucharist so complement one another that all three are required for full Christian initiation.
Can. 843 ß1 Sacred ministers may not deny the sacraments to those who opportunely ask for them, are properly disposed and are not prohibited by law from receiving them.
According to their respective offices in the Church, both pastors of souls and all other members of Christ's faithful have a duty to ensure that those who ask for the sacraments are prepared for their reception. This should be done through proper evangelization and catechetical instruction, in accordance with the norms laid down by the competent authority.
Who the heck cares about the polytheistic Catholic Church. Thou shalt not worship any graven images before me saith the lord, except, St Joseph, Mary, St Peter, St Paul, the Pope.....The popes of history are like a most wanted for corruption, mayhem and mass murder. The Inquisition, Invasion, conquest pillage and genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and but a few good examples. Between 1492-1900 Numbers of innocent dead in the double digit millions. How people can continue to follow and worship such a thing is beyond comprehension. Say a few hail Mary's for me!
I thought that Jesus said to renounce all worldly goods. The Catholic Church doesn't need a Pope, they need a CEO. Religion should not be a business.
The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church constitute a special
College, whose prerogative it is to elect the Roman Pontiff in accordance with the norms of a special law. The Cardinals are also available to the Roman Pontiff, either acting collegially, when they are summoned together to deal with questions of major importance, or acting individually, that is, in the offices which they hold in assisting the Roman Pontiff especially in the daily care of the universal Church.
The College of Cardinals is divided into three orders: the episcopal order, to which belong those Cardinals to whom the Roman Pontiff assigns the title of a suburbicarian Church, and eastern‚rite Patriarchs who are made members of the College of Cardinals; the presbyteral order, and the diaconal order.
Cardinal priests and Cardinal deacons are each assigned a title or a deaconry in Rome by the Roman Pontiff.
Those to be promoted Cardinals are men freely selected by the Roman Pontiff, who are at least in the order of priesthood and are truly outstanding in doctrine, virtue, piety and prudence in practical matters; those who are not already Bishops must receive episcopal consecration.
Cardinals are created by decree of the Roman Pontiff, which in fact is published in the presence of the College of Cardinals. From the moment of publication, they are bound by the obligations and they enjoy the rights defined in the law.
A person promoted to the dignity of Cardinal, whose creation the Roman Pontiff announces, but whose name he reserves in petto, is not at that time bound by the obligations nor does he enjoy the rights of a Cardinal. When his name is published by the Roman Pontiff, however, he is bound by these obligations and enjoys these rights, but his right of precedence dates from the day of the reservation in petto.
Cardinals assist the Supreme Pastor of the Church in collegial fashion particularly in Consistories, in which they are gathered by order of the Roman Pontiff and under his presidency. Consistories are either ordinary or extraordinary.
ß2 In an ordinary Consistory all Cardinals, or at least those who are in Rome, are summoned for consultation on certain grave matters of more frequent occurrence, or for the performance of especially solemn acts.
ß3 All Cardinals are summoned to an extraordinary Consistory, which takes place when the special needs of the Church and more serious matters suggest it.
ß4 Only an ordinary Consistory in which certain solemnities are celebrated, can be public, that is when, in addition to the Cardinals, Prelates, representatives of civil states and other invited persons are admitted.
Can. 354 Cardinals who head the departments and other permanent sections of the Roman Curia and of Vatican City, who have completed their seventy-fifth year, are requested to offer their resignation from office to the Roman Pontiff, who will consider all the circumstances and make provision accordingly
Pedrora, pray tell, why are you quoting Canon Law?
"Canon Law" disturbingly seems very familiar to the heirarchy of La Cosa Nostra....
Does anyone else see this, or am I hallucinating?
Jet:
You aren't hallucinating. Actually, our entire Church structure is based on the Roman Empire thanks to Constantine. Pope=Emperor; College of Cardinals=Roman Senate; Bishops=proconsuls; priests=centurions. Nice neat hierarchy so everyone knows which way power flows.
Who the heck cares about the polytheistic Catholic Church. Thou shalt not worship any graven images before me saith the lord, except, St Joseph, Mary, St Peter, St Paul, the Pope.....The popes of history are like a most wanted for mayhem and mass murder. The Inquisition, Invasion, conquest pillage and genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and but a few good examples. Between 1500-1900 Numbers of innocent dead in the double digit millions. How people can continue to follow and worship such a thing is beyond comprehension. Say a few hail Mary's for me!
I would like to see the next Pope bring the church out the middle ages and into modern day society. Yes, I believe women should be priests; yes, I believe the "not so traditional" traditional vows of celibacy priests have to take should be done away with (claiming masturbation to be a sin is, how do you say, "strange"); yes, priests should be allowed to marry.
In agreement. But the Church is going to have to change its stance on divorce if it is going to allow religious - both priests and nuns - to marry.
Morals change and will continue to change. Traditions change and will continue to change. The pope is the last absolute monarch left in Europe. That too will change.
One does not need to believe in absolutes to make moral judgements. You can be good without Yahweh. It still amazes me this needs to be said in the 21st century.
One doesn't need to be perfectly moral in order to be loved by Yahweh. Anything to the contrary means blasphemy. The Papacy is not a symbol of power. It does not exist in order to prove God's or Yaweh's existence.
Nobody can prove God's existence, as no one has examined Him physically, but we can surely study God by studying the people who follow and believe in him. Hence the existence of the Vatican, it does the same as atheist do--study and learn more about the people (or sinners) whom God or Yaweh LOVE the most.
Before he was Benedict XV, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he had access to all the information concerning every diocese in the world. It is now alleged that he blackmailed the other Cardinals into electing him as Pope by threatening to turn over damaging evidence to the various local authorities if they did not. Last week Cardinal Mahoney of San Diego was stripped of all authority and dignity. He was one of the cardinals "sitting" on information about a multitude of illegal activities and it is suspected that he "threatened" to come clean. The Pope is not resigning because of age or health or even concerns for the church. He is now being forced to resign in yet an even larger cover up. He will be sent to a monastery away from the press and public eye where he will die from causes, the truth of which, may never be known.
peter, I am sorry to inform you are not the Peter Jesus chose to lead his Church. Jesus was much smarter not to choose you as the first pope. Cardinal Mahoney was the former archbishop of Los Angeles. Not San Diego. He was tasked by the current archbishop to participate in the matters concerning the archdiocese of Los Angeles to keep him busy. And you really know what is in the heart of Cardinal Mahoney, ha? I suppose you can read hearts. If you do, the liberal church should put you up for some kind of sainthood. I am sorry, but you are not qualified because just like what your liberal friends say, you are judgmental.
I guess the truth hurts so much, it's easier to turn a blind eye.
the liberals are out in full force with their biased opinions and lies - void of any sensible knowledge of the Pope and the functions of the Catholic Church. yes, read a little - possess a little knowledge - distort the truth and facts - and they call themselves theologians and philosophers.
A lot needs to change in the Catholic Church. Because priests and nuns cannot marry, the church has become a haven for gay priests and lesbian nuns. If you examine it, that actually seems natural enough, but then you also have the pedophiles and the traditional straight priests that also happen to be drunks. What a freaking mess the Catholic Church has become. I left the church years ago and I'll just deal with my faith alone.
A priest that is not a drunk or gay or a pedophile is a very rare priest.
Wow you guys ! Maybe Pope Benedict is stepping down bcuz his whole belief system was shattered during his reign of the top guy in his corporate ladder. We the church need a "Jesus with an MBA"? REALLY???? Maybe its just me but doesnt the whole religious family need a few honest people as leaders? I left the the rc church mentally in 1972 then physically when i converted in 1992. Researched alot in history and my own soul since then and it still boils down to faith in my God. All the trials and tribulations i have been thru make me stronger. An MBA doesnt give anyone common sense nor does it foster empathy and compassion for others. That is from the heart. That is what Jesus was. The rape and pillage of man is from man's own greed. Im with the ones who state they deal with faith on their own. Ive been twisted and torn for years about stepping inside any church for many years for any other reason than appreciating the beauty of the building.
I would love to be around in a few hundred years to read what the then historians have to say about this time. The Catholic Church doesn't need to change, as it probably won't anyway. What is changing is the world's population. It hasn't been all that long ago that the Catholic Church pardoned Galileo... literally after hundreds of years. It's only been within the last decade of the discovery of planets outside of our solar system, a concept Galileo himself could not have fathomed. One has a tendency to forget that the current leadership of the Catholic Church was born when television wasn't available to the world's population. Electricity wasn't available to much of the world's population. In WWII the Russian soldiers invading Germany from the Eastern Front, weren't familiar with water coming from a faucet, and electric lightbulbs. That's why Stalin had large purges of his own troops, so they wouldn't demand the technologies of the West.
These "old guys" leading the Church would be familiar with mules pulling plows, kerosene lanterns for light, water from hand pumps and mumbo jumbo medical practices... because they lived it. They need more than an MBA, because the MBA they would elect probably earned his degree on a statistical calculator with a hand pull. The hand held calculator that you can purchase now at the drug store for a few bucks, wasn't available until the 1970's. Hybrid grain seeds weren't available to the world's farmers until the 1960's in any numbers. " Modern " agricultural practices of the 1950's, like the use of DDT to control crop pests, have been banned from use for environmental reasons for decades.
These Cardinals are too old. The reason why I know that is because they are older than I by a decade or more, and as a kid on the farm, I pumped water by hand, and worked with men who knew how to hook a team to a moldboard plow, and that's after WWll. In college, math was done on a slide rule, and statistical analysis was done on a calculator with a hand pull... and that was when we were landing a man on the moon.
'Disarray' and 'irregularities?' That's what they're calling it?
This man not only 'ignored' the child sex abuse by some members of the clergy, he condoned it by having them transferred to new parishes, giving them a whole new group of victims. Don't ever forget, he was the head of the office in charge of that.
I have nothing but contempt for him. Retiring is the best thing he's done for the RCC.
Confession could be a good start, also.
He also was in Hitlers army, wonder what he really thinks of Jews.
I'm not a proponent of Benedict... but enough will the Nazi stuff.. enrollment in the Hitler Youth was a requirement for all boys that were 14 years old in Germany, and by all accounts he refused to attend meetings, then joined a seminary. He may be a lot of things, but a member of "Hitler's Army" is stretching it.
The Catholic Church is nothing but a breeding ground for pedophile priests. And corruption runs faster that the Colorado river. They just really need to clean house and start over again.
Well said on the house cleaning! Kind of like Jesus chasing the moneychangers out of the temple - that also got the priests down on Him! Unfortunately, at this moment, don't see anyone braiding up a whip.....
While I agree there needs to be some major house cleaning and reform... I disagree that it's JUST a breeding ground for that... there are far more good than bad in the church from my experience, so all the implicates need to be defrocked IMMEDIATELY by whomever the next Pope is. By covering all of this up it seems like they kind of forgot about a pretty important Bible verse, Matthew 5:30:
"And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell"
The Catholic Church has ALWAYS been a corrupt entity.
One of its early Popes (Gregory) and his children are considered to be the first Mafia family.
Nothing has ever changed.
Which Gregory? There are 16 of em.... and while Gregory I was awhile back, the church had been around for a good 500 years at that point, so early is relative. Not that it excuses it, but when you have an organization around for 2000 years, every so often so bad seeds will sneak in.
I am admittedly an atheist and an ex-Catholic in whose mouth the church left a horrible taste, so maybe I don't have any right to comment on who the pope is, but I studied Theology at a Catholic college, so I am knowledgeable. Pope John XXIII was the last pope who had an ounce of brains in his head. (My high school was named for him.) Putting the mass in English, ending the ridiculous fish on Friday rules (which was only instated to help the fishermen), etc. etc., John XXIII cared about the people. Since then, popes have been trying to steer us back into the 14th century, with corruption so rampant I can't believe anyone still follows this ridiculous tradition. In the 1970s a pope was assassinated (although they don't admit it) to bring John Paul II to power. Then Benedict, who is such a reactionary he belonged to an anti-semitic group! I am glad to see him go, and so is my extremely devout Catholic mother. I have little faith that anyone will ascend to power who will make changes to the church since recent popes have stacked the deck with uber-conservatives and reactionaries. I believe they will probably try to undo the good John XXIII did. It's time for this evil enterprise to be dismantled.
Do you know what compulsary membership in a youth group means?
...2222:
An established doctrine is an established doctrine...the word of God is the word of God. These absolutes cannot be destroyed by any kind of philosophies that's been created by men. A church may rise, and also meet its fall, but the Church of Saint Peter belongs to God alone, and the bishops and the Pope, are just mere caretakers for God. How can you challenge God and how can you tempt Him, how then can you deny the existence of God which you say does not exists?
If the church of Saint Peter belong to you or any other creature on earth, then that's a different story!
i ahve no idea why companies ship jobs from the U.S.?
you dopey leftists.... you are not employable.