The Pope says Peace Out! ( he's not dead)

[stevew]

Hopefully the Cardinals aren't planning to go with Kolb/Skelton/Lindley as their options to lead going forward.

[Izulde]

Miaphysite isn't the same as Catholic, though.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I hear there's a guy from El Salvador that can do a 4.3 Our Father.

There's been speculation that he's taken some papal enhancing drugs, though.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by stevew

Hopefully the Cardinals aren't planning to go with Kolb/Skelton/Lindley as their options to lead going forward.

Actually as a non-Catholic, but Cardinals fan, I hope the "Holy Trinity" is their best option going forward

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Actually as a non-Catholic, but Cardinals fan, I hope the "Holy Trinity" is their best option going forward

When I watched a Cardinals game this year I did see a few people in attendance mouth what seemed to be "Jesus Christ."

[kcchief19]

I was born into a strongly Catholic family and consider myself Catholic even though I wasn't raised in the church. I just don't see the Church as reformed enough to do anything that would be seen as progressive by the rest of the world.

Look what happened last time -- the rest of the world said know was the time to find a more liberal, non-European who could move the Church away from its past mistakes. Who do they elect? The German youth Nazi who tried to cover up the pedophiles.

The smartest thing for the church from a growth and relevance standpoint would be to choose someone from Asia or Africa completely fluent in English. South America would be a reasonable third choice. I don't see a North American Cardinal getting elected anytime soon for a myriad of reason, unless it's the Canadian.

But know the Church, that makes it all the more likely they will elect the 65 year old Italian, since they haven't done that in a while.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Miaphysite isn't the same as Catholic, though.

Well the request was for an Arab Pope, no one said they had to be a Catholic Pope .

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Look what happened last time -- the rest of the world said know was the time to find a more liberal, non-European who could move the Church away from its past mistakes.

Non-European cardinals tend to be far more conservative socially (but liberal in terms of social gospel - then again Benedict XVI was strongly anti-war, pro-environment, anti-free market, etc.)... so that would be difficult.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Cardinals From Canada, Africa Lead in Papal Betting - Bloomberg

Calling my bookie for some big money on Quellet - when that white smoke goes up, cha-ching!

[Drake]

Late to the party. Not catholic. Seeing JPII in the window one Sunday morning in St. Peter's square when I was in Rome is like the only connection I've got to Catholicism.

That said, I have a great deal of respect for a guy who realizes he's not up to the demands of the job anymore and walks away. That makes him like Pope John Elway vs Pope(s) Brett Favre, in my mind.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

...when that white smoke goes up, cha-ching!

Pope Cheech!

[Breeze]

Lightning strikes the vatican on the same day the the pope announces he's stepping down...

http://www.weather.com/video/lightni...-vatican-34284

[Icy]

As a conspiracy theory, I wonder if it has something to do with his secretary being caught stealing docs and letters a few months ago, maybe he was forced to resign or something would be made public.

Anyway I feel this whole Pope elections thing totally out of it's time in the XXI century as much as I do about our king succession rules in Spain. It should be made publicly accepted by the church that the pope is not elected because God's inspiration, but because he is supposed to be a good politician/economist to run the whole organization.

[RainMaker]

I think he is just old and that is why. In the 1600's you didn't have to appear on TV or have every move tracked by the internet. If you've been around people in their mid to late 80's, you know how tough it could be to handle that schedule.

[Drake]

I couldn't handle his schedule in my 40's.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Non-European cardinals tend to be far more conservative socially (but liberal in terms of social gospel - then again Benedict XVI was strongly anti-war, pro-environment, anti-free market, etc.)... so that would be difficult.

I'm using liberal in terms of church doctrine. Most Cardinals are going to be anti-war and pro-environment, as would most Catholics. Not sure I agree about the anti-free market -- I think that's an over simplification.

But in terms of church doctrine, Benedict was and has been as conservative as the come. Cardinal Turkson from Ghana, who is believed to be a favorite, has been less hardline on some issues than Benedict has.

And by liberal no one is expecting a pope that is going to come out in favor of birth control, gay rights or abortion. You generally don't get to be a Cardinal if you support birth control. But whereas Benedict opposes all forms of birth control, Turkson has made statements in the past that birth control for married couples may have limited uses in places such as Africa in protecting against HIV. Not a huge step, but a step in the right direction.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

I'm using liberal in terms of church doctrine. Most Cardinals are going to be anti-war and pro-environment, as would most Catholics. Not sure I agree about the anti-free market -- I think that's an over simplification.

But in terms of church doctrine, Benedict was and has been as conservative as the come. Cardinal Turkson from Ghana, who is believed to be a favorite, has been less hardline on some issues than Benedict has.

And by liberal no one is expecting a pope that is going to come out in favor of birth control, gay rights or abortion. You generally don't get to be a Cardinal if you support birth control. But whereas Benedict opposes all forms of birth control, Turkson has made statements in the past that birth control for married couples may have limited uses in places such as Africa in protecting against HIV. Not a huge step, but a step in the right direction.

I actually don't think anti-free market is an exaggeration. Benedict has spoken out against worldwide capitalism on numerous occasions - indicating how capitalism tends to cheapen human dignity (and he's correct about that).

As for anti-war, a lot of Cardinals, I imagine still subscribe to Augustinian Just War theory. Benedict obviously did not.

As for Turkson, he may be slightly better on birth control, but he tended to not really care so much that Uganda was about to sign a kill the gays law, whereas Benedict wasn't so much in favor. Maybe it isn't gay rights, but at least it is better. Also it is acknowledged that Benedict, even for his missteps, was likely better at Catholic-Muslim relations that other pontiffs and definitely be better than Turkson, who has made some interesting statements on that regard.

[ISiddiqui]

To add...

In his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, he was clear that the social justice teachings of the church and the teachings about sexual morality flowed from a single source and, in his mind, were irrevocably bound together. As I mentioned in my article at The New Republic yesterday, the fact that the pope was as devoted to social justice issues as he was to issues of sexual morality has been somewhat opaque in the U.S. because so many of his loudest supporters in the U.S. tended not to mention his commitment to social justice or minimized the radicalness of the demands he made in that regard. Catholic neo-cons dismissed his call for a conversion of Western lifestyles, his commitment to environmental protection, his denunciation of "unregulated financial capitalism" as a threat to world peace, his abiding lament at growing income inequality, and because these neo-con voices claimed to be authoritative and because the mainstream media does not know any better, Benedict's rigorous critique of modern consumer, capitalist culture was underplayed. Whenever he spoke against gay marriage, however, the headlines of a reactionary pope could be found everywhere.

Why I came to love Benedict XVI | National Catholic Reporter