Pope Benedict XVI to Resign on February 28 | Hacker News Reader

Pope Benedict XVI to Resign on February 28

mashable.com

7 pointsbrequinn6 comments

I am shocked! Honestly, I am. I am not catholic, in fact, I am hardly religious, but the Pope abdicating (a pope doesn't resign, he abdicates!)? That's... insane.

Last time that happened was in 1415 when Gregory XII was forced to abdicate because of the Schmism.

Honestly, I am disappointed in these people are supposed to serve as relics of our old institutions (such as monarchies), when they cannot stand up to the basic requirement of a title that last till they die.

What's the point, if they can abdicate on a wimp? One should only abdicate if a war for the throne has been won by a pretender!

Retirement is a good idea. That’s just it. It would be shocking if there were no popes who are willing to agree with that. The last pope didn’t, this one apparently does. That said, both the last and the current pope are the same age when they leave office – 85 – so I could imagine that also factoring into Benedict’s decision. Dude wanted to retire eight years ago – and then became pope. I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t how he imagined spending his last years.

Nowadays old people are merely mentally or physically handicapped by malaises that would have killed them not a century ago. In that context this is a very natural development, proving once again that churches are always willing to change to insure their survival (but not an inch more).

I think it is more an indication that we don't need monarchies anymore.

Don't know if you guys heard, but there's buzz around here in the Philippines that the next Pope might be Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Antonio_Tagle), or at least the faithfuls believe he has a good chance. The mere thought of it scares me though. The Church has a very strong influence in State affairs, and I can only imagine this being a really bad thing for my country.

And now the end is near. [1] On the positive side, the only really hard prediction on that list is, that the next pope is "Petrus Romanus." So we can nicely test the reliability of Malachy's prophecy.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_the_Popes

Interesting, but not HN material.

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