Posted on 03/01/2013 2:29:12 PM PST by NYer
Below are some of the most striking images from today, Pope Benedict XVI’s last day as Supreme Pontiff. All images are courtesy Catholic News Service:
Ping!
Thanks very much, NYer.
I watched all LIVE on EWTN.
Upon his election, Pope Benedict implored the faithful to, "Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves."
It's too bad he didn't get enough of those prayers.
I’m not a Catholic, but I do enjoy watching all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Pope and the goings-on at the Vatican. I’ve got my issues with Catholic theology... But I think Jesus was serious when he told Peter “upon this Rock...” And such. So... I look forward to the process. Pope Benedict was a good man, a smart and thoughtful leader.
I have my own take on why he’s stepping down, that seems so obvious but nobody seems to be saying it-— it’s because he wants to set a new precedent. He has written at length before he was Pope that he believed that Pontiffs were all hanging on too long, waiting to die in office, long after their bodies and minds had let them down. That it was a better service to the Church to step down -before- you became an invalid. That the Church deserved someone with their full energy and vitality.
A sensible and defensible argument, whether you agree or not. I think he’s taking this step to make precedent— and make it that much easier or perhaps -expected- of future Popes. Anyway... My .02
You really think he resigned because he was afraid? You don’t think it might have been because he’d had two strokes, is functionally blind in one eye, is losing sight in the other eye, has intractable arthritis pain, and now has a heart condition that will prevent him from flying? The people around him, including someone I know, have noted his exhaustion, weakness, illness, and pain. That is not fear but a realistic knowledge of one’s own shortcomings.
I agree. There should be a separation between the man and the office. Furthur, I am sure that the Holy Father knew that his age led to make too many judgement based on friendship ,and his personal kindness would not let tell his friends, you are not cutting it in this role. Take another chair in the choir. He was not at all well served by his staff. It think of the Regenburg Speech where the staff was blind to the need to get the speech to friendly journalists in advance so they could get its substance out before the speech was delivered.
Do you think Pope John Paul II did wrong by not resigning in his last years?
I think he feared his personal collapse into the same state as John Paul II in his last years. At a time when the Church needed him at full strength. If John Paul had resigned in 2000, I think the College would not have chosen Ratzinger, who would have made it clear he would not take the job.
I need prayers every day. Don’t you?
Pray for this Holy Father that we do lose not the gifts he still has to share with us.
I strongly disagree. Previous popes have suffered martyrdom rather than separating from their "office". St. Peter didn't renounce his office.
Nor did Pope Leo XIII who remained Christ's Vicar until he died at the age of 93.
I have no idea what you are babbling about.
Why is it so terrible to ask for prayers as the Pope did. I ask for prayers and need prayers practically everyday.
I only said I didn't think the pope received the benefit of enough prayers (that he had requested) to keep him from fleeing the wolves.
And none of those Popes were flying around the world, nor did they have the kind of schedule that the modern Popes have had.
I knew from the time that he was elected that he was going to become a “transition” Pope.
May God Bless and be with Pope Benedict XVI, Emertius for the remaining time he has.
I think of his as a continuation pope. His reign was an extension of John Paul IIs and a continuation of his own initiatives. JohnPaul trusted him implicitly, and he accepted the papacy as his cross to bear.
Leo XIII was a prisoner of the Vatican. he didnt do half the stuff that Benedict has had to do. Leo had the luxury of writing in a quiet study, as Benedict did before he became a bishop and up until the time that John Paul became ill. There is a reason why this scholar pope has written so few encyclicals.
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