Posted on 02/11/2022 4:58:18 PM PST by ebb tide
Nine years ago this very hour I was dressing for work when the announcement came across the radio. It was devastating. I truly thought he was dying or had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and would be gone within the year. I loved him, I trusted him. He was like the grandfather I never knew. As long as I knew he was there, all would be well, or at least I thought. Since that time it has been a horror for the Church, for individual faithful Catholics. It has only become worse.
When I look at him, I can't help but remember the joy I felt when he was elected.
He is still, my Pope.
Our Hopes are with Pope Benedict XVI on this 9th Anniversary of his Declaratio | From Rome
Ping
I know JUST what you mean!
Bad pope?
Crazy that he’s been “emeritus” longer than his 2005-2013 tenure. God have mercy on his soul and forgive him for his weakness and/or foolishness in handing over the keys to the worst pope in centuries.
Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. April 24, 2005
Plus his silence concerning the current reign of terror of his apostate “successor”.
Yes, still the real Pope.
Begone, ImPopester!
The communists in the priesthood did a job on him...
Like Caesar getting stabbed by you-know-who...
I still don’t understand. I miss Pope Benedict XVI. God bless him!
“Bad pope?”
No. But did he make an incorrect prudential decision? Was almost 86. Bad knee/s. Trouble walking. Fell in the middle of the night while on a foreign trip about a year before his resignation and cut his head. So physically declining.
Thought John Paul’s example meant a Pope had to be active, be seen, travel, even a degree of vigor. Should have cut public appearances. Little or no travel. Govern the Church from an office. Make appointments. Write. Wave from the window once or twice a week. Public Mass when able. Tape messages. Radio. Tweets.
Did Benedict lack a bit of John Paul’s and I must admit, Francis’ toughness, fortitude? John Paul, dragged body of increasing Parkinson’s around for a decade. Francis, missing a lung, recent serious surgery, Sciatica bouts, arch problem, limps, gaining weight, who knows what else, has surpassed Benedict’s length of reign, and about November, will surpass his age at resignation. No way he’ll resign. Will probably die with his slippers on, so to speak, and point out his twin in philosophy successor.
Leo XIII, brilliant encyclicals, died in office at 93. Would Benedict have lived this long in the papacy? Maybe, maybe not. Probably would have made it a few more years though.
Pray for us here in the Archdiocese of Louisville. Francis named our new Archbishop this week. Don’t care that he’s black! We’re not racist in Louisville or Kentucky! Concerned about his words of support for Black Lives Matter and seeming obsession with the hardly existent anymore “grave sin of racism”. Many blacks in Louisville die by abortion or gun shots not by police or so-called white supremacists.
Retiring Archbishop Kurtz, a pleasant surprise. Came in with a reputation as a “moderate”, but kneeling in front of the downtown abortion clinic leading the Rosary within a week. Incredible vitriol in the local rag paper when he defended Church teaching on marriage as Bishops’ point man on the subject. Said Latin Mass publicly about once a month at my parish. Is that Latin Mass about to leave? Serious cancer bout a couple of years back. Resignation at 75 a few months ago accepted. I thought he was too conservative for Francis’ taste. Met him once. Charming. Good homilies. Charismatic. Brother, Down Syndrome, died years ago. Led Archdiocesan Pro-Life Masses each January when able, and passionately defended them. Pray for him and them.
Pray!
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