Can We Fire the Pope?

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The Catholic Church is diseased right now. Amid the mounting global scandal over pedophilia, it’s suffering from epidemic proportions of denial and enabling. It seems to care more about protecting its own image and interests than the faithful innocents it’s been called to serve under God. Perched atop this mess is Pope Benedict XVI. And if it is ultimately proven that he was negligent in turning a blind eye to years of sexual abuse by priests under his charge – when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and as head of the oversight body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, from 1981 to 2005 – then he must step down or be removed from the papacy. The corner office of the Vatican is certainly no place for sexual abuse cover-ups.
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There are now unconscionable abuse cases arising out of Ireland, Germany, Minneapolis, and Wisconsin, where over 200 deaf boys were sexually molested over a span of perhaps 25 years by then-Father Lawrence C. Murphy. The charges are beyond shocking, and the acts they describe are heinous. And these are just the cases made public and over the last few weeks. To be sure, this is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
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Read more at: [huffingtonpost.com/andy-ostroy/can-we-fire-the-pope_b_528410.html](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-ostroy/can-we-fire-the-pope_b_528410.html)
 
This article comes with a picture that is just disgusting! The Pope would NEVER do such a thing! These people that are attacking the church are really making me ANGRY!:mad::mad:
 
Not really, but the Holy Father can abdicate. However, that has not occurred for the past half-millenium. The Papacy is and should remain for life. Alexander VI, of all Pontiffs, was not asked to give up the Tiara.
 

NO! BUT, even if we could fire the Pope, he does not deserve to be fired, he is an awesome Pope!​

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Unfair attack on the Pope!***

The Pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger, did not hold authority over the abuse scandal until 2001 when Pope John Paul II gave him the responsibility to review the known cases at that time. Prior to that date Cardinal Ratzinger had no formal role at all in those matters. He was immediately concerned with the facts he learned and at one point had referred to the abuse as being the “filth” within the Church. Many clergy inside the Church felt he was being too harsh with the charge of “filth,” yet that was only the beginning of his actions.

It is undeniable that the reaction to the abuse scandal by some Bishops was/is completely indefensible because many of those Bishops were the ones allowing for movement of Priests from one parish to another (see my other post regarding those points). However, the Pope was not guilty of such acts, not as Pope and not as Cardinal Ratzinger.

The following (regarding actions taken about the abuse crisis) must be noted concerning Cardinal Ratzinger as he worked under Pope John Paul II:
  1. He worked to speed-up the process of removing guilty Priests from ministry.
  2. He removed internal rules regarding statues of limitations, which then allowed Church prosecution of “historical” acts that were alledged many years in the past.
  3. Under his Congregation a streamlined process was developed to allow for more rapid judgments in cases like sexual abuse.
  4. He declared a zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual abuse.
  5. The Congregation he led declared that sexual abuse of minors by clerics were “graviora delicta,” or “most grave crimes.”
  6. There has been much mis-information about a letter that he sent to all Bishops in 2001 regarding keeping silent about abuse. The media would have us think Cardinal Ratzinger was trying to silence victims and protect guilty Priests, which could not be farther from the truth. Cardinal Ratzinger was simply reiterating Church laws concerning confidential information about the victims and Priests regarding allegations so as to protect the victims and to also allow a proper investigation into what happened without interference. People do tend to forget in all this that even Priests should be considered innocent until proven guilty and that victims must have their legal recourse in a private manner as they see fit. Cardinal Ratzinger was simply attempting to protect the rights of both victims and Priests in that horrible mess–he was not attempting in any manner to silence victims ( a vile and fact-less charge created by the media).
  7. As stated above, he quickly and publicly condemned the abuse as being the “filth” within the Church.
More at: jfpblog.wordpress.com/
 
No we can’t fire the Pope and neither can the college of Cardinals that elected him. Neither can he be impeached, as some “news” outlets posit.

The Pope can voluntarily step down but that is only in extreme situations. If the Pope were to step down under pressure, as is occurring now, we would always have a question if it was really voluntary.

I can’t think of anyone who is more capable than our current Holy Father of shepherding us through this time. How would it benefit anything to have a vacant seat of Peter and another conclave now?
 
irishpatrick said:
NO! BUT, even if we could fire the Pope, he does not deserve to be fired, he is an awesome Pope!
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Amen to that, brother. He is awesome and the people who are striving so mightily to smear his name don’t have any inkling of his wisdom, intelligence or holiness. I’ve read that he’s looking especially frail and unwell these days. I hope he realizes people are standing up for him all over the world. Let’s keep him in our prayers.
 
Young_Thinker said:
Not really, but the Holy Father can abdicate. However, that has not occurred for the past half-millenium. The Papacy is and should remain for life. Alexander VI, of all Pontiffs, was not asked to give up the Tiara.
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Yes well, Celestine the V abdicated after only a few months as Pope in the early 1200’s. He preferred the hermit’s life. The subsequent Pope Boniface VIII had him taken into custody and given a “cell” in the Vatican. History states that within 10 months he died, possibly murdered. Of course, we will never know why. He is the only Pope to have done so to date.
The abdication Celestine V-“the desire for humility, for a purer life, for a stainless conscience, the deficiencies of his own physical strength, his ignorance, the perverseness of the people, his longing for the tranquility of his former life”; and having divested himself of every outward symbol of dignity, he retired to his old solitude. Wikipedia

As for Pope Benedict, he certainly has had a difficult time and needs our prayers. Being Pope is not easy nor is it the dream job of a lifetime. It is an occupation of service to all Catholics. It is important to remember that the Pope is a man and has had his whole life devoted to the church and may not be as schooled in the ways of the world as is necessary in this day and age for a Pope to be. Error may come from not being informed or being incorrectly informed.

I personally don’t believe that he would ever be in favor of a cover up but would genuinely advise people to report any abuses to the authorities as I have read that he has already done.

As for the cartoon and article. I believe this site is definitely an Anglican or Protestant leaning site in it’s politics. It is no surprise they published this. Catholics maybe should sign up on this site and protest his article.
 
The liberal media learned well from The Clinton Admin. the politics of personnal destruction; don’t bother discussing the issue w/ facts but destroy (attempt) the character of your opponent.
 
tomarin said:
Amen to that, brother. He is awesome and the people who are striving so mightily to smear his name don’t have any inkling of his wisdom, intelligence or holiness. I’ve read that he’s looking especially frail and unwell these days. I hope he realizes people are standing up for him all over the world. Let’s keep him in our prayers.
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The better spiritual question, imo, is:

What is the Pope doing today that brings this attack on him with such intensity?
 
irishpatrick said:
The better spiritual question, imo, is:

What is the Pope doing today that brings this attack on him with such intensity?
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I think you’re presuming that his attackers are rational, which may not be the case. I think they’re just looking for a pretext to smash catholicism to bits, because they hate the idea of anything that doesn’t bow down to the cult of Progress.
 
Yes, the liberal media will hit the Church with any stick it can get its hands on. However, we need to remember that it was the failures of the Church that gave them this stick to hit us with.
 
Galnextdoor said:
Are you suggesting that we should fire the Pope if we could?
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Absolutely NOT! I just put that in case anyone else wanted to read the article. I am very loyal to Our Holy Father. He is a great guy and he would never do such a thing. Even if we could fire the Pope, I would never recommend it! The only one that can fire the Pope is Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
 
We need to continue to pray for our Pope. He is a good man and is dealing with a most disgusting situation. The Church will survive and be better for it after we get through this.
Hang in there.
 
NewEnglandPries said:
Yes, the liberal media will hit the Church with any stick it can get its hands on. However, we need to remember that it was the failures of the Church that gave them this stick to hit us with.
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I think the question is whether it is somehow the Pope’s fault or whether the blame lies with a bad batch of bishops (which is what I believe).
 
I_Fortuna said:
Yes well, Celestine the V abdicated after only a few months as Pope in the early 1200’s. He preferred the hermit’s life. The subsequent Pope Boniface VIII had him taken into custody and given a “cell” in the Vatican. History states that within 10 months he died, possibly murdered. Of course, we will never know why. He is the only Pope to have done so to date.
The abdication Celestine V-“the desire for humility, for a purer life, for a stainless conscience, the deficiencies of his own physical strength, his ignorance, the perverseness of the people, his longing for the tranquility of his former life”; and having divested himself of every outward symbol of dignity, he retired to his old solitude. Wikipedia

As for Pope Benedict, he certainly has had a difficult time and needs our prayers. Being Pope is not easy nor is it the dream job of a lifetime. It is an occupation of service to all Catholics. It is important to remember that the Pope is a man and has had his whole life devoted to the church and may not be as schooled in the ways of the world as is necessary in this day and age for a Pope to be. Error may come from not being informed or being incorrectly informed.

I personally don’t believe that he would ever be in favor of a cover up but would genuinely advise people to report any abuses to the authorities as I have read that he has already done.

As for the cartoon and article. I believe this site is definitely an Anglican or Protestant leaning site in it’s politics. It is no surprise they published this. Catholics maybe should sign up on this site and protest his article.
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Yes, indeed. However, there seems to have been also other abdications(or at least overthrowals) in the Middle Ages, as during the Great Schism, not to mention the dissolute 11th-century Pope Benedict IX was deposed twice and reigned three times (he has been the only one to reign more than once). The circumstances surrounding Benedict IX were dire, with the Papacy being controlled by Italian noblemen and often involving a lot of corruption. However, reforms concerning the papal election were later instituted(as by St. Gregory VII), and the College of Cardinals was empowered.
 
tomarin said:
I think you’re presuming that his attackers are rational, which may not be the case. I think they’re just looking for a pretext to smash catholicism to bits, because they hate the idea of anything that doesn’t bow down to the cult of Progress.
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No, I believe the Church always has to deal with spiritual attacks. I am simply wondering what the Pope is doing now that is contributing to this terrible attack.
 
It’s not the Pope who needs to be fired; he has actually been at the forefront of dealing with this problem. Now, there are a few bishops who should probably be fired . . .
 
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