Posted on 02/16/2013 5:49:59 AM PST by NYer
The Moynihan Report: Letter #7: Reflections on Benedict's Resignation
This view, if correct, reinforces the idea that His Holiness abdicated in pursuance of his plan to carry on the movement toward firmness in Tradition through generations to come, — and not because his goals were defeated by the modernizers.
My hunch is that he is stepping down because he has Alzheimer’s. I read that he will discontinue writing after he steps down. Why would he do that when he will have so much time on his hands? It sounds to me as if he is about at the same stage of Alzheimer’s as was Ronald Reagan when he wrote his letter announcing he had the disease. Just a hunch.
Vitamin B12
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You wrote:
“Why would he do that when he will have so much time on his hands?”
Because of the natural problem it would create. Only one man can be pope at a time. When a former pope keeps publishing it can create confusion. Men who were once pope almost always DELIBERATELY lead very quiet lives when they leave the papal throne to be sure and not draw attention away from the current pope.
U.S. Presidents do something similar when you think about. They might still write, but until Clinton, they generally lived lives of quiet retirement.
The main post and Moynihan Rpt #7 are both worth reading.
The latter distinguishes between ‘retire’ vs ‘renounce.’ Now to consult the dictionary for where/if ‘abdicate’ fits in.
This militates against you hunch. Alzheimer’s is not like a stroke, it is a condition that deteriorates relatively slowly; there is no indication he could not, especially with aides available, struiglle on another year:
Three days after that announcement, Pope Benedict delivered a highly structured, 46-minute long public talk, without a prepared text and only occasionally consulting his note [...] Father Lombardi has suggested that the former Pope Benedict might eventually publish the document under his own name
Especially since he is leaving unfinished business: the continuing dissent in the Church and the delicate SSPX negotiations.
Abdication:1:a formal resignation and renunciation of powers; thus I intrepretate Pope Benedict’s move as the same as King Edward VII’s. He will return to being Cardinal Ratzinger, and thus no ‘two pope’ problem.
"dichiaro di rinunciare al ministero di Vescovo di Roma" (DECLARATIO)
This dictionary says, as a transitive verb it expresses "abdicate":
My apologies, it was Edward VIII (eighth) that abdicated the British throne, not Edward the Seventh. Edward VII died in 1910.
There have been several sources that have attempted to clarify the terminology vis a vis the mainstream media. When I post these threads, I do so in their original format.
Of course I know that Alzheimer’s isn’t a sudden onset disease. I know people with the disease. I’m saying that he may have been having symptoms for a while, and that he may be at the stage where he is still funcitional at this point, but knows his mind is deteriorating and his decision making and day to day functions may be compromised as the disease progresses. Ronald Reagan delivered a great speech at the 1992 Republican convention, but not long after that dropped out of public sight when he announced he had Alzheimer’s.
The fact that he is not going to issue the encyclical now as Pope feeds more into my hunch. His spokesman says that he will issue it as a private citizen. I believe it is a promise that will fall by the wayside. Only time will tell.
Abdicate is a better word than either resign or renounce due to alternate meanings of those words.
Abdicate is a better word than either resign or renounce due to alternate meanings of those words.
Again, he can’t have any debilitating symptoms now if he is delivering unscripted complex talks, so your speculation is without evidence.
Of course it’s abdication in essence. Our press is not used to dealing with royalty, hence the sloppy translations.
I have a dumb question.He is Pope until the new Pope is named right?
Thanks for the ping. Abdicate is the proper word for this action.
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