Non-Catholic reactions to Pope Benedict's resignation.

[Zairra]

Let me get this straight. You are accusing Pope Benedict of being a deserter because as a child-soldier he stopped fighting for the Nazis and now at 85 he wants to retire?

I do. Because you’re no child when you’re 18. Because leaving your unit to die is leaving your unit to die, breaking an oath is breaking an oath, betraying your homeland is betraying your homeland. And because his predecessor was in much worse condition yet served till his last breath. It is a trait, it is a habit; it is a very understandable desire to live a long and comfortable life - of which, in some circumstances, a person can be accused.

 

[Reuben_J]

There is much speculation regarding why Pope Benedict has resigned. I wonder if it is because, as I recall, he was the closet one to John Paul the Great, and watched him in his last few months. It seems that during this period the enemies of JP were working against him, at least that is what I remember hearing. Pope Benedict made a statement a few years ago that he was not afraid of the “wolves” , probably in the Church and close to him. If he is sick and can’t continue to fight the good fight to bring back the Church to a more orthodox one, maybe he felt that it was time for someone else who has the strength to take over.

I also heard that he can no longer fly, which limits his visits at i.e. youth events, etc.

Just my thoughts and he will be dearly missed as I think he is a wonderful Pope and leader of the Church.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Bernadette

Still shock at the news … . The first question I asked was why? So it is not surprise if there are speculations and sure there will be.

Now as I recollect myself, I can only think it is a courageous decision by the Holy Father. Even before he was Pope he was known to take no nonsense in issues with regard to the faith. Thus he seemed to be quite blunt. If people consider him conservative, I would say he is a true Catholic. And he will always be.

I think he wants to revive the Papacy to be more dynamic and active and that the Pope is not just a monarch but can actively be in sync with the faithful perhaps in the mould of JPII. For that to happen, it demands that the Pope to be physically able to keep up with the requirement of the physical aspect of his ministry.

While JPII carried on through his infirmity especially during the last few years of his life which is a charism of service in suffering, BXVI sees that it does not have to be so. The time is just right for him to step down now before he is ridden with more visible old age inadequacies. More importantly it will set the example for future Popes. They do not have to serve in perpetuity. If we can set the age limit for Bishops and Cardinals, then why not for Popes though it does not have to be written?

His decision probably will go down in the history of the Church; it is about six hundred years since the last Pope to have resigned but perhaps under different situation.

This is not very usual for Catholics but will he be Emeritus Pope?

Prayer and blessing.

 

[John_Paul_Jones]

I do. Because you’re no child when you’re 18. Because leaving your unit to die is leaving your unit to die, breaking an oath is breaking an oath, betraying your homeland is betraying your homeland. And because his predecessor was in much worse condition yet served till his last breath. It is a trait, it is a habit; it is a very understandable desire to live a long and comfortable life - of which, in some circumstances, a person can be accused.

I don’t think there is a betrayal of his homeland. His homeland was over-runned by Nazis. Really who are you to equate all of Germany and Germans with Nazis, a political party with a political ideology? I think your line of reasoning is insulting to the German people and to the pope.

 

[Bl_Pope_Pius_IX]

Rand is a shady character from Star Wars universe, whom I only remembered for the quote.
About the Pope:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI#Early_life:_1927.E2.80.9351
In 1943, while still in seminary, he was drafted into the German anti-aircraft corps as Luftwaffenhelfer (air force child soldier).[15] Ratzinger then trained in the German infantry.[17] As the Allied front drew closer to his post in 1945, he deserted back to his family’s home in Traunstein after his unit had ceased to exist, just as American troops established their headquarters in the Ratzinger household.[18]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffenhelfer
While the official term was “Luftwaffenhelfer (HJ)”, the term more commonly used is “Flakhelfer” (“Flak-assistant”). The 1926-1929 births are commonly referred to as the “Flakhelfer-Generation”. In German ears the phrase associates with the collective and incisive experience of being torn out of conventional adolescent life (though under circumstances of total war) and being thrown into strict military service and extreme peril, when in the final phase of the war, the AA-batteries themselves became preferred targets of allied strafers.

I do. Because you’re no child when you’re 18. Because leaving your unit to die is leaving your unit to die, breaking an oath is breaking an oath, betraying your homeland is betraying your homeland. And because his predecessor was in much worse condition yet served till his last breath. It is a trait, it is a habit; it is a very understandable desire to live a long and comfortable life - of which, in some circumstances, a person can be accused.

I think you are trying to take two completely unrelated events (his deserting in WWII and his abdication) and and trying to connect them in an attempt to slander the Holy Father. Now, first off, I will reiterate that these two events are unrelated. The latter “desertion” is not a desertion at all. He is not leaving the Church. He is not fleeing at all. He will still be there, in prayer and living a life in contemplation. That is certainly no desertion. To say it is a trait or even so far as to say it’s a habit is absurd and unfounded. To say that something he did as an 18 year old and another thing he did as an 85 year old is a habit is ludicrous.

You are trying to find something in nothing, friend.

 

[Reuben_J]

I do. Because you’re no child when you’re 18. Because leaving your unit to die is leaving your unit to die, breaking an oath is breaking an oath, betraying your homeland is betraying your homeland. And because his predecessor was in much worse condition yet served till his last breath. It is a trait, it is a habit; it is a very understandable desire to live a long and comfortable life - of which, in some circumstances, a person can be accused.

This is unkind and accusatory.

 

[Bl_Pope_Pius_IX]

This is unkind and accusatory.

And unfounded.

 

[GaryTaylor]

Yet expected and predictable.

 

[Petergee]

I know I’m not a non-Catholic, but I just have to say and I never knew that a Pope could/would resign. I thought they had to die or become incapacitated.

Anyway, I love Pope Benedict XVI!!!

You were right. A pope cannot resign. A resignation must by definition be made** to** a superior authority. The pope has no superior authority on earth. He cannot resign. He has announced that he will abdicate. Or if you prefer, “retire”.

I am surprised that the Moderators have let the title of this thread stand with such an incorrect word which could even lead some to the heretical belief that there is some person or body of people who is superior to the pope to whom his resignation must be submitted and accepted.

 

[smaneck]

Pretty much. The one ‘progressive’ change we are likely to see is greater voice being given to Catholic leaders in Africa and Latin America.

 

[GaryTaylor]

You were right. A pope cannot resign. A resignation must by definition be made** to** a superior authority. The pope has no superior authority on earth. He cannot resign. He has announced that he will abdicate. Or if you prefer, “retire”.

Right there is no-one to resign to. I don’t believe Pope Benedict used the word resign either?

“I declare that I [renounce] the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of St. Peter.”

 

[smaneck]

I do. Because you’re no child when you’re 18. Because leaving your unit to die is leaving your unit to die, breaking an oath is breaking an oath, betraying your homeland is betraying your homeland.

So you think not supporting the Nazis is betraying your homeland?

You realize that any oath he would have taken would have been to Adolf Hitler, not the homeland? Is that really an oath he should have kept?

And because his predecessor was in much worse condition yet served till his last breath

.

No, he didn’t. Pope John Paul II may have still been Pope but he was incapable of serving anyone those last few years. Then Cardinal Ratzinger was doing all the work.

] It is a trait, it is a habit; it is a very understandable desire to live a long and comfortable life - of which, in some circumstances, a person can be accused.

Did it ever occur to you that Pope Benedict might have wanted to spare others what he went through those many years while Pope John Paul II was too ill to perform his duties?

 

[smaneck]

You were right. A pope cannot resign. A resignation must by definition be made** to** a superior authority.

Nixon resigned. It was not to any higher authority.

 

[smaneck]

This is not very usual for Catholics but will he be Emeritus Pope?

Prayer and blessing.

I believe his official title will be Bishop of Rome, Emeritus.

 

[TexanKnight]

You were right. A pope cannot resign. A resignation must by definition be made** to** a superior authority. The pope has no superior authority on earth. He cannot resign. He has announced that he will abdicate. Or if you prefer, “retire”.

I am surprised that the Moderators have let the title of this thread stand with such an incorrect word which could even lead some to the heretical belief that there is some person or body of people who is superior to the pope to whom his resignation must be submitted and accepted.

re·sign (r-zn)
v. re·signed, re·sign·ing, re·signs
v.tr.

1. To submit (oneself) passively; accept as inevitable: I resigned myself to a long wait in line.
2. To give up (a position, for example), especially by formal notification.
3. To relinquish (a privilege, right, or claim). See Synonyms at relinquish.

It would seem resignation is a good term for what he did.

 

[Milliardo]

As a former Catholic, when I heard the news I got interested, mainly as to how Catholics would take the news. I wasn’t at all surprised that he would resign though; I thought it was only a matter of time before a Pope these days would voluntarily leave his office.

 

[twopekinguys]

But they already do–its called ordination.

smiley face or not, your remark is offensive

 

[LEMAITRE]

But they already do–its called ordination.

How does the wink nullify or negate that offensive statement?

 

[LisaA]

Yes, in this case they were unduly harmed by doing what the church told them to do. If the couple in question would have been allowed to follow their own intelligence and conscience in this matter, the undue harm wouldn’t have happened.

You have not indicated what undue harm has occurred. Please enlighten us. As to contraception, according to most statistics, Catholics contracept. So instead of following God, they follow their “intelligence and conscience” How’s that workin out?

Lisa

 

[GaryTaylor]

I thought it was only a matter of time before a Pope these days would voluntarily leave his office.

May well be something that occurs more frequent than 600 years also. No reason to be disturbed by good planning.

 

[TexanKnight]

May well be something that occurs more frequent than 600 years also. No reason to be disturbed by good planning.

Past Popes were not really required to travel. Now, with travel the way it is, travel is expected. It is needed.

Being The Holy Father is not as much a position for old men anymore. That is what made Pope JPII such an amazing Pope.