Can a Pope resign? Benedict XVI just has!

I am not Catholic but I live in Italy. As I see it, the Pope is a man doing a job and can therefore hand in his notice if he feels justified to do so. However, any thoughts run through my mind but the one that is first and foremost is - why now? Why this week and not last week or next week - or next month when our general elections will be thing of the past? Hmmmm

Let us start by asking what 'pope' means, it is derived from a Greek word and means 'father.' Jesus says, "And call no man your father upon the earth; for one is your Father, which is in heaven." all the best, urban

For some reason, when I saw the news my heart gave a little lurch. While it's not unprecedented, it's unusual and with the political instability of the world at this point, anything that changes can be a harbinger of something worse. I'm not a Catholic and hardly pay attention to the Pope or what he says, but I remember when Pope Benedict XVI came into power and the speculation as people watched closely to see if he was the "evil pope" that's been prophesied for so long. So... perhaps the next one will be? Who knows. Anyway, it's just another jolt on what has become a rather rocky ride.

I am not really educated in religious beliefs and the such, but something did catch me off guard. You said (allow a younger) man to take the place as Pope. Maybe I am completely wrong, but I thought that the pope had to be of a certain age, an elder?

You have already said that a pope can resign. It is the first time for me in my lifetime and I am not happy about it as speculations will run a riot although he has clearly said his health is failing. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pope-says-will-resign-on-feb-28-vatican-spokesman.aspx?pageID=238&nID=40870&NewsCatID=393

What does the Pope (or any Priest, for that matter) DO other than 'say masses' & 'visit hospitals'?

Before I was reading through this discussion, my thoughts were rather plain and simple. He feels it is time for him to be done so he is resigning, rather than dragging out his failing health and so forth. Now that I read what others have to say, it does open up ideas of conspiracy and things of that sort.

It is good that this pope chose to resign...I am sorry that he has been ill, but he did some very bizarre things during his term...There have been some great popes, this one was not one of those. He spoke from the chair on the issue of the physical existence of heaven and hell...He said that hell, etc. was a physical place. He also never renounced his affiliation with the brownshirts and the nazis in WWII. When a person with such power and presence does not renounce such as the nazis and brownshirts it gives the world the impression that such are sanctioned...This is a very bad thing.

I think it's much more courageous to resign if you feel you're not up to the task than to hang in there too long. What relevance does the church have here? There are many catholics in the US, and church policy does influence how they vote, among other things. It's not very relevant to me personally though.

Yes he can and if he feels that he needs to step down anytime and decide his future course of action and of course the formality will take some time

I`ve heard the news in real time and i wasn`t aware that a pope can resign.Oh well yesterday i`ve found that a priest from a church has retired so i think if you can retire like any other worker then you can also resign. Maybe it`s better this way, maybe behind his health problems was also a strategic move to make sure the church will be on good hands, probably he will have some influence on the election of the new Pope.Since i`m not Roman Catholic i can only hope the new one will be also a traditionalist like Ratzinger was.Maybe Christoph Schoenborn from Austria will become the new one.

I think he did the right thing,he is really tired, both psychically and emotionally.These are not the best times for Catholic world and who knows what is ahead.Now people start guessing who's going to be the next pope.It will be the event of the year for some because they want to see if the prophecies concerning the new pope are right or wrong.We'll see.

It seems as though the next pope might be a man from Ghana. Does it make a difference? he is Catholic is not it? And will be led the Catholic Church?

I don't think this is the only explanation. It doesn't make any sense for me. In almost one thousand years nobody considered resignation, so the papacy it's not about the best fit man for that function. Benedict's health seems better that the health of John Paul II in his last years. I'm surprised and intrigued (as an orthodox-christian) and I think it's about a lot more than health.

I saw that on the Yahoo headline news, and then minutes later heard it on the radio news... I didn't realize he was ill.

It looks as though the next Pope may be a man from Ghana. If you are a Catholic, how do you feel about that? I'm puzzled about this. Why should it matter where the new Pope comes from?

And why not resign? may be at the end of the day he became wise in his old age! he may have realized that the catholic church and it's law have no place in the world today...like contraception for instance and abstinence from s*x[ I mean who does it?]may be the church will wake up and renew their policy other wise they will be obsolete in the near future.

I love a good mystery. Last Pope to resign was in the 15th century. The papal prophecy of Malachy says Benedict XVI would be the next to the last Pope. In the year 1140, an Irish bishop named Malachy visited Rome with a group of monks. They climbed the Janiculum Hill to thank God for the safe completion of their journey. While there (so the story goes), Malachy had a vision in which he “saw” 111 Popes to the end of time. Each Pope was chronicled with by a short, cryptic epigram in Latin. And with the resignation of Benedict XVI, the last Pope on Saint Malachy’s list is about to be elected. The prophecy for the last Pope contained a alarming vision: “During the last persecution of the Holy Roman church there shall sit Peter of Rome, who shall feed the sheep amidst the many great tribulations, and when these have passed, the City of the Seven Hills shall be utterly destroyed and the awful Judge will judge the people.” http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/340318/next-pope-last-pope-father-dwight-longenecker So are we there yet?

I think priests including pope are there to decipher the content in holy books, and solve people's problems based on the underlying principles of all the stories in the holy scriptures. While so, we have, over the years added several new tasks such as inauguration ceremonies and coronation ceremonies to their existing list of duties. In the present scenario, where the population has grown so much, and the corresponding number of priests is fast dwindling, their workload certainly increases manifold. We unfortunately dont offer them the choices that we give ourselves. For example, if we want to change a car, we do, if we want to change a house we do, if we want to change a profession, we do, if we want to change our spouses we do. But they have no right to get into that calling, and then change their line. We all feel inclined to be kind and considerate at times. And at times, we are not all that nice (at least I am not). So why do we expect those people to feel no need to leave all that behind and take it easy. Why do we not think it can be monotonous to be doing same thing over and over each day 365 days of the year, and that for next 50 or 60 years! And at times, it must get frustrating, and that might manifest itself on unsuspecting poor souls. Is it only the duty of such few some of whom may have errorneously chosen that path, to do good to the society, while we get busy filling our coffers? My mind keeps on asking such questions. In this light, I want the pope to have that liberty. Anything that is done out of compulsions cant be very good. It should be done with heart. If he finds himself incapable of carrying out those duties for any reason, he should have a right to be honest about it, instead of sinning by pretending he likes his job.

As Laglen said, the last pope to have resigned seems to be Gregory XII in 1415. The renunciation is allowed by canon law -- ch 1 art 1 can 332 -- and has only to be expressed and done deliberately to be valid. If the pope feels that he is too weak to do his job, he is right to resign. I think that it is impossible today to predict who will be the next pope. In this particular case, maybe Benedict XVI will design himself the cardinal who will do the interim until the next election, but in fact any male Catholic can be elected.