Pope!Retirement

[laceblade]

As-you-know-Bob, I have complicated feelings about Catholic hierarchy, and Pope Benedict XVI/his beliefs in particular. HOWEVER, I still try to pay attention to things that are going on.

Twitter jokes about the retirement of the Pope were mostly hilarious, but those aside, I am happy about the news.

On PBS last night, the guests were talking about how doing this makes the office more important the person - very different than the previous celebrity!Pope, John Paul II/JP2.
It's like making the papacy less of a monarchy (if you're still alive, YOU'RE IT), and more about...a necessary, functional role.

Thinking about JP2's final years, and how he was essentially incapacitated & what I now know about neurodegenerative diseases, I want to see someone in the position who is up to the task, who isn't miserable.

While Benedict XVI doesn't have any specific ailments, he has arthritis, some prostate problems, and has been advised not to travel. He doesn't want to do the job, & doesn't feel like he can.

I like the precedent: It's okay to stop working, it's okay to not shorten your life span by continuing to go-go-go, it's okay to let someone else step up and take over.


I don't have a lot of enthusiasm/hope for the next Pope. It'd be nice if the next Pope surprised me. It is hard to imagine having someone worse than Benedict XVI, I suppose.
Pretty much my only sentiment is, "Please, anyone but Timothy Dolan," but I am pretty confident that it would not be him. The Cardinals God tends to stay away from voting in someone from a superpower nation.

Comments

[troisroyaumes]

I am secretly hoping they will elect someone who is not white European (because maybe then the Church hierarchy may start reflecting the actual current demographics of the laity!) but I'm not holding my breath.

This may be the first action of Benedict XVI that I support! --;

/disenchanted Catholic who is mad at the Church

[laceblade]

Non-white European is my hope-against-hope, for sure!

And...yeah. I can't think of anything else Benedict has done that I liked, :[

[lileyo]

Huh, it hadn't occurred to me that maybe this would set a new precedent for how the office is treated. That'd be pretty cool. I wonder if it will.

A non-white pope from a non-European country would be pretty amazing. I imagine they'll be just as heinous as the previous pope though, if not even more so in a White Guys Choose the Model Minority kind of way. T_T I guess we'll see.

[laceblade]

Yeah, that would be awesome & is what I hope for. What sucks is that most of the Cardinals were elevated by Benedict (& those who weren't, JP2), so there's not a ton of diversity in doctrinal interpretation.

Yeah, not automatically a win, that option

[bibliofile]

...says the person from Illinois, where the Republicans found only Alan Keyes to run for Senate against Barack Obama. I'd be happy with not-completely-nuts and not-as-conservative-as-possible.

[of Catholic heritage but never practiced it myself]

[starlady]

As you know Bob, I think the best chance at someone who isn't European is the Canadian guy, but I agree that this is a good precedent, and one I hope future popes will have the strength to follow.

[eggcrack]

I like the precedent: It's okay to stop working, it's okay to not shorten your life span by continuing to go-go-go, it's okay to let someone else step up and take over.

I like this a lot too, and I'd like to see other, um, professions (sorry, not sure about the right terms here..) follow it. It's indeed okay to not do anything to death.

[trouble]

This is an interesting perspective to me. Most everyone I know off-line is just focusing on the jokes, but I don't know a lot of people who are Catholic.