Pope Benedict to resign

[Rapscallion]

Not a body I'm familiar with - anyone heard of them before this? Anyone got any idea which sovereign nation is involved? Unless it's Italy, he could just avoid going there. I also don't see how him stepping down is going to mean he's avoiding that.

Rapscallion

[Duelist925]

Not a body I'm familiar with - anyone heard of them before this? Anyone got any idea which sovereign nation is involved? Unless it's Italy, he could just avoid going there. I also don't see how him stepping down is going to mean he's avoiding that.

Rapscallion

Could be a political trade. He steps down, and the church avoids another massively major scandal, and in return...something?

[Nyoibo]

I doubt it has anything to do with it, a little googling seems to show that this ITCCS has 1 member a Rev. Kevin D. Annett, I would hazard a guess that it's all bollocks and one nutjob trying to sound important, firstly, there is no way to arrest the Pope, the Vatican is it's own sovreign country and arbitrarily "confiscating" Vatican property by civilian occupation would last all of about 5 minutes.

[Hyena Dandy]

I have no idea who those people are.

But they cite the Rome Statute improperly.

And apparently were created 3 years ago.

I feel like these are not an international government organization.

They also say they want to go after Queen Elizabeth.

Edit: Further googling, I found two news articles not posted by them mentioning them. I also found a facebook page, which has 62 likes.

I have a page about a robot pony with which is apparently better known than them.

[AccountingDrone]

Honestly I think his health is tanked far enough, and he is wise enough to just call it quits. If he is possibly dealing with a fresh dx of alzheimers or some other mentally debilitating condition it does make sense to retire before any negative events can happen.

[Rapscallion]

Retire, find a retired nun, settle down together in a cottage in the country...

That arrest thing is sounding more and more far-fetched now.

Rapscallion

[lordlundar]

though is it wrong I really want the awesome dude from Ghana to get in, can you imagine the reaction?! XD

I'm COUNTING on it! The Schadenfreude coming off the fundies will make for years of entertainment.

This is relevant:
http://salem-news.com/articles/febru...pe-resigns.php

This is fiction. The "organization" is not recognized by any government in the world, let alone as an international legal body. That requires recognition by the UN General Assembly and the only international judicial organization they recognize is the International Court.

As well, the Vatican is considered a sovereign nation and is granted allowances that no other nation is. The only way this "group" is seizing Vatican assets is if they invade. Good luck getting enough people willing to take on the Swiss guard which is an international military force and very well trained.

[Pixilated]

I'd heard that he had attempted to negotiate no charges for child abuse accusations if he stepped down ... but that's off the Interwebz so its veracity is, shall we say, dubious at best ...

I also found an article suggesting that there's a Canadian who has a good shot at the position. For some reason I really doubt that one, LOL.

On my FB I'm seeing comments (intelligent ones from friends, not bitchy) wondering if something's about to be exposed about him. *snip*

I wonder that as well. The worst I've heard so far is that this way he has some influence over who gets the job next. Still ... a year ago I wouldn't have believed he would've stepped down for any reason.

I'm looking forward to all the conspiracy theorists who are obligated to come out soon and explain, by means of insanely long and rambling blog posts, how this means the end of the world, the New World Order rising, lizard men coming to eat us all, or, the classic, how them sneaky jews are out and about to do whatever they believe sneaky jews does. I expect references to the Illuminati, the Bilderbergers, Nibiru/Planet X, Freemasons, David Icke, and, obviously, the jews.

OOOH YEAH!! We should start our own Conspiracy Theorists United thread here!

[wolfie]

So the Pope gave up for Lent? Cool.

Last week there was an editorial cartoon showing a building (presumably part of the Vatican) with a speech bubble "You gave up WHAT for Lent?".

Seriously, he's the same age that John Paul II was when he died, he suffered a head injury fairly recently, and he's got other health problems. My guess is that he was diagnosed with some condition that inevitably leads to dementia, and he felt that it was better for the Church for him to be out of the public eye, rather than still serving as Pope, when he "loses his marbles".

[Seifer]

It's always fun to hear the "rules" for choosing a new pope. It really helps remind you how backwards religions are, and how they love living in the past. The rule that gets me is how the Pope must be a man. I guess according to Catholicism, women just aren't spiritual enough to lead the church. Them and their vaginas, always causing problems! Why couldn't they have been born with a penis like God intended?

[crashhelmet]

It's always fun to hear the "rules" for choosing a new pope. It really helps remind you how backwards religions are, and how they love living in the past. The rule that gets me is how the Pope must be a man. I guess according to Catholicism, women just aren't spiritual enough to lead the church. Them and their vaginas, always causing problems! Why couldn't they have been born with a penis like God intended?

In order to be eligible to be Pope, you have to be a Cardinal. In order to be promoted to Cardinal, you first have to work your way up the ladder of the clergy. Since women can't be priests, yet, they can't even get on the first rung of that ladder.

AFAIK, the one and only exception to this is for a Pope to appoint someone a Cardinal in Pectore, or in secret. AFAIK, there are no rules or regulations restricting who the Pope can or cannot choose (minimum age for "normal" Cardinal promotion is 50). However, the person selected as Cardinal in pectore does not have any of the rights or "powers" of a Cardinal until they are made public.

So theoretically speaking, a Pope could appoint a woman as Cardinal in Pectore and then publicize her appointment, giving her full rights and privileges. She'd probably never gain a single vote for Pope, but it would be a start towards further progression.

[HYHYBT]

More likely, it would drag up procedures for when a pope becomes a heretic.

[PepperElf]

In order to be eligible to be Pope, you have to be a Cardinal. In order to be promoted to Cardinal, you first have to work your way up the ladder of the clergy. Since women can't be priests, yet, they can't even get on the first rung of that ladder.

That's what I thought too as a Catholic. However I found out that you don't actually have to be a cardinal. It's happened before but (according to the vid below) not in over 600 years. so yeah... kinda an unofficial/official rule

CDP Grey: How to become a Pope

[Gravekeeper]

I'm guessing he needs to step down before he's implicated in the destruction of Alderaan =p

[HYHYBT]

It makes sense that they'd pick one of their own unless there was a compelling reason not to.