The bizarre stories of the four other popes to have resigned in the last 1,000 years

Washington Post ^ | 02/12/2013 | Max Fisher

[SeekAndFind]

On Feb. 28, Pope Benedict XVI will become the first pope to resign in almost 600 years. That’s not just tradition — it’s dogma. The Washington Post’s Debbi Wilgoren cited a theological expert in explaining, “Most modern popes have felt that resignation is unacceptable except in cases of an incurable or debilitating disease — that paternity, in the words of Paul IV, cannot be resigned.”

But Benedict XVI’s resignation is even more curious when compared to the handful of others who have left the powerful office willingly. In the past 1000 years, only four other popes have resigned. Here are their unusual stories, which are also an indication of just how much the church has changed.

* Pope Benedict IX, in 1045: At age 33 and about 10 years into his tumultuous term, the Rome-born pope resigned so that he could get married – and to collect some cash from his godfather, also Roman, who paid Benedict IX to step down so that he might replace him, according to British historian Reginald L. Poole’s definitive and much-cited history of the 11th century.

* Pope Gregory VI, in 1046: The same man who had bribed and replaced his godson ended up leaving the office himself only a year later, according to Poole’s account. The trouble began when Benedict IX failed to secure the bride he’d resigned for, leading him to change his mind and return to the Vatican. Both popes remained in the city, both claiming to rule the Catholic church, for several months. That fall, the increasingly despondent clergy called on the German Emperor Henry III, of the Holy Roman Empire, to invade Rome and remove them both.

[bigdaddy45]

This is a historical piece, not an opinion piece. And quite interesting to boot.

[Mrs. Don-o]

If a cleric is laicized, his vow of celibacy is dissolved. Even today a priest who wants to get married, can request laicization.

I don't know that a bishop has been laicized to get married, though. Not in my lifetime, I think.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Actually, German Benedictines are famous for their beer. They are -— or used to be -— among the finest brewers in Europe.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The Church also gets rejuvenated by periodic reform movements, though. One of the great reforming popes, Gregory VII of the 11th century, is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, which pitted him against Emperor Henry IV and strove to remove bishops (as far as possible), from entanglement with princes and kings.

The so-called "Counter-Reformation" Popes were actually reforming popes: they psueh for internal Church purification.

"Ecclesia semper reformanda." -
"The Church is always to be reformed."

[Mercat]

My brother posted this on another site and after trying for awhile to show him how secular and biased the article was, I gave up.