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BENEDICT-LOMBARDI Feb-12-2013 (1,320 words) With photo posted Feb. 11. xxxi
Benedict will be prayerful presence in next papacy, spokesman says
by Carol Glatz and Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Even though Pope Benedict XVI will spend his retirement near Rome and then inside Vatican City, he will not play any role in the upcoming election for a new pope, and he will not interfere with the responsibilities and decision-making activities of the new pontiff, the Vatican spokesman said.
Rather, the new pope will have the prayerful support and empathy of someone who understands "more than anyone in the world" the burden and responsibilities of being a pope, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.
The spokesman also confirmed that Pope Benedict has a pacemaker and has had it "for some time." He said the battery recently was changed, but that the procedure had nothing to do with the pope's decision to resign.
Father Lombardi made his remarks Feb. 12, the day after the 85-year-old pope announced that, because of his age and waning energies, he was resigning effective Feb. 28.
The Jesuit spokesman described as an "indiscretion" a report in the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, which said Pope Benedict had gone to a private Rome clinic three months ago for a small "procedure" to change the batteries in his pacemaker.
The spokesman confirmed it was true and said it had been a "normal" and "routine" procedure.
The newspaper said the pope, who was elected in 2005, has had the pacemaker for 10 years. Father Lombardi confirmed it was put in while the pope was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In response to questions about how a conclave and a new papacy will be played out while a former pope is still alive and living in the vicinity, Father Lombardi said, "there will be absolutely no problem" because Pope Benedict is a discreet and "extremely scrupulous" person. No one would ever expect from him any "interference or comments that would cause even minimal awkwardness or problems for his successor," he said.
"Rather, his successor will feel supported by the prayers and intensely loving presence and interest from someone who, more than anyone in the world, can understand and be interested in the worries of his successor," the priest said.
"Pope Benedict will surely say absolutely nothing about the process of the election," the spokesman said, "and not intervene in any way in the process," he said.
"You can be totally sure that the cardinals will be autonomous in their decision" in deciding on the next pope, he added.
Father Lombardi told journalists that the pope was free to decide where he wanted to live in his retirement. A monastery in the Vatican Gardens is currently being renovated for the pope's future residence. It will "guarantee him a certain autonomy and freedom," but at the same time, allow him to remain in the Vatican.
It was not clear who would be moving in with the pope to serve as his assistants, but Father Lombardi said the residence is small and number of staff would be, too.
Father Lombardi also announced that Pope Benedict's Ash Wednesday Mass Feb. 13 was transferred from its ancient, traditional site to St. Peter's Basilica because of the large crowd expected.
The Mass, Father Lombardi said, was expected to include more concelebrating cardinals, bishops and priests than usually go to Rome's Basilica of Santa Sabina, the small Ash Wednesday "station church."
The spokesman said the Ash Wednesday Mass was expected to be the last large liturgical event of Pope Benedict's papacy.
All of Pope Benedict's appointments for February -- his general audiences, his meeting with Italian bishops making their "ad limina" visits and his annual Lenten retreat with the Roman Curia Feb. 17-23 -- were confirmed, Father Lombardi said.
He told reporters that the pope's annual meeting with priests from the Diocese of Rome would take place as planned Feb. 14, and the pope was expected to use the occasion to talk about his personal experiences at the Second Vatican Council.
Pope Benedict's last general audience, Feb. 27, is likely to be held in St. Peter's Square instead of in the Vatican audience hall since the hall holds only 7,000 people and the square can hold tens of thousands, he said.
Father Lombardi said that, at least as of Feb. 12, no special events were scheduled to mark the end of the pope's pontificate. Events already on the pope's calendar would provide ample opportunity for Vatican officials and pilgrims to see the pope and show their affection without having to add additional appointments, he said.
When asked why the pope chose the exact hour of 8 p.m. Rome time to step down from his office, Father Lombardi said that was the hour the pope normally ended a normal work day and was not according to any "juridical rule," but more to reflect an established routine.
The Vatican spokesman said the pope's fourth encyclical, a letter on the theological virtue of faith, was unlikely to be ready for publication before his resignation at the end of the month. The hoped-for document will either not be published under his pontificate or it will not appear "in the usual form of an encyclical," he said.
Giovanni Maria Vian, editor of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, had written in the paper's Feb. 12 edition that the pope had started to think about stepping down after his trip to Mexico and Cuba in March 2012. Father Lombardi said the trip undoubtedly played a role in the pope's ongoing reflection about retiring.
He said although the pope went to Lebanon in September, Mexico-Cuba was the last big papal trip that crossed a number of time zones before having the usual full slate of liturgies, events and meetings.
The weight of travel with a busy schedule perhaps helped the pope realize he would "not be able to handle these kinds of commitments" in the future, the Jesuit said.
Because of the unusual occurrence of a pope resigning, Father Lombardi said a decision would have to be taken "by the right people" concerning what happens to the pope's nonpersonal effects that are associated with his ministry as pope, such as his fisherman's ring and his official seal.
"I think obviously that if they are things or objects tightly connected with the Petrine ministry, well then, these things should be removed because this pope no longer exercises his ministry" after Feb. 28, he said.
Concerning what the pope will be called after he steps down, that, too, needs to be determined, though it was certain he would not hold the title of cardinal, nor would he be eligible to hold any office in the Roman Curia, because he is over 80 years old.
However, it was conceivable that he could be referred to as "bishop emeritus of Rome," he said.
While Pope Benedict will not be attending World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in late July, the weeklong gathering is a time for youth to be with the pope, and it is very likely the new pope will be there, Father Lombardi said.
When the pope told organizers he "confirmed the presence of a pope, he did not promise that it would be him," the spokesman said.
According to rules governing a conclave, the College of Cardinals can begin proceedings for a papal election 15 days after the start of a "sede vacante," which begins Feb. 28 at 8 p.m., and no later than 20 days after that date, which puts the dates at March 15-20.
Father Lombardi said the pope certainly was careful about choosing a date that would allow the world's cardinals to take part in a conclave and election without interfering with their duties back home leading Holy Week and Easter celebrations.
Father Lombardi said he expects there will be a new pope by Easter, March 31, reminding journalists that Pope Benedict was elected just 17 days after the "sede vacante" that began after Blessed John Paul II's death.
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(1) Pope Benedict Over the Years: News Coverage by the Numbers
("Pew Research Center," February 12, 2013)
Pope Benedict XVI, the spiritual leader of some 1 billion Catholics worldwide, announced on February 11 that he will retire from his post by the end of the month, citing weakness and age. It will make him the first pope to resign in 600 years.
Perhaps the most visible religious figure in the world, Pope Benedict has attracted a significant share of news coverage over the years. Since Pew Research Center began tracking the U.S. news media in 2007, the pope has been by far the central figure in mainstream religion coverage.[i]
A new analysis of 2,700 religion stories in newspapers, websites, cable and broadcast news programs and audio outlets over a five-year period finds that:
When covering religion, the U.S. media gave Pope Benedict far more attention than any other figure. The pope was the main newsmaker in 32% of all religion stories studied from July 2007 through May, 2012. That is nearly three times as much as the No. 2 religion newsmaker, Barack Obama (12%).
Looking across all topics and the many thousands of people in the news over the last five years, Benedict still ranks high. The pope was the 27th most-covered individual, the focus of more attention than figures such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, John Boehner or Hamid Karzai.
In the context of religion coverage, not all media sectors have given equal treatment to the pope. On network TV, fully 38% of the religion coverage studied over the five years has focused on Benedict. On cable TV, however, only 14% has done so. Among other sectors, newspaper front pages (20%), audio news programs (23%) and major news websites (27%) fell somewhere in the middle.
Despite all the pope’s activities over the years, the U.S. media primarily focused on two main stories, with little attention to religious issues the Pope dealt with during his tenure.
Benedict’s 2008 visit to the U.S. accounted for nearly a third (31%) of all pope-related news over the five years studied: That is nearly twice as much as the No. 2 story, the Catholic priest abuse scandal (18%). (For more analysis of media coverage of the Pope, see the Pew Research study of Benedict’s visit to the U.S. and a study of the clergy abuse scandal.)
Benedict’s other travels, including visits to the UK, Cuba and Africa, accounted for another 17% of the coverage.
Hot-button social issues accounted for very little of Benedict’s coverage. The pope’s positions on abortion and same-sex marriage together made up less than 1% of his media coverage over the five years studied.
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(2) Successor to Benedict Will Lead a Church at a Crossroads
by Rachel Donadio & Elisabeth Povoledo ("The New York Times," February 11, 2013)
Vatican City — Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise announcement on Monday that he will resign on Feb. 28 sets the stage for a succession battle that is likely to determine the future course of a church troubled by scandal and declining faith in its traditional strongholds around the world.
Citing advanced years and infirmity, Benedict became the first pope in six centuries to resign. Vatican officials said they hoped to have a new pope in place by Easter, while expressing shock at a decision that some said had been made as long as a year ago.
Saying he had examined his conscience “before God,” Benedict said he felt that he was not up to the challenge of guiding the world’s one billion Catholics. That task will fall to his successor, who will have to contend not only with a Roman Catholic Church marred by the sexual abuse crisis, but also with an increasingly secular Europe and the spread of Protestant evangelical movements in the United States, Latin America and Africa.
The resignation sets up a struggle between the staunchest conservatives, in Benedict’s mold, who advocate a smaller church of more fervent believers, and those who believe that the church can broaden its appeal in small but significant ways, like allowing divorced Catholics who remarry without an annulment to receive communion or loosening restrictions on condom use in an effort to prevent AIDS. There are no plausible candidates who would move on issues like ending celibacy for priests, or the ordination of women.
Many Vatican watchers suspect that the cardinals will choose someone with better management skills and a more personal touch than the bookish Benedict, someone who can extend the church’s reach to new constituencies, particularly to the young people of Europe, for whom the church is now largely irrelevant, and to Latin America and Africa, where evangelical movements are fast encroaching.
“They want somebody who can carry this idea of new evangelization, relighting the missionary fires of the church and actually make it work, not just lay it out in theory,” said John L. Allen, a Vatican expert at the National Catholic Reporter and author of many books on the papacy. Someone who will be “the church’s missionary in chief, a showman and salesman for the Catholic faith, who can take the reins of government more personally into his own hands,” he added.
The other big battle in the church is over the demographic distribution of Catholics, which has shifted decisively to the developing world. Today, 42 percent of adherents come from Latin America, and about 15 percent from Africa, versus only 25 percent from Europe. That has led many in the church to say that the new pope should represent a part of the world where membership is growing quickly, while others say that spiritual vision should be paramount.
But while most of the world’s Catholics live outside Europe, most of the cardinals come from Europe, pointing to a central tension: while the Vatican is a global organization, it is often run like an Italian village.
Under normal circumstances, the cardinals would descend on Rome after the death of the reigning pope. In this case, said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the pope will carry out his duties until Feb. 28 at 8 p.m., with a successor probably elected by Easter, which this year falls on March 31. But he said the timing for an election of a new pope was “not an announcement, it’s a hypothesis.”
Already, speculation is rife about who best fills the perceived needs of the church. Cardinal Angelo Scola, the powerful archbishop of Milan, is seen as the strongest Italian contender. A conservative theologian with an interest in bioethics and Catholic-Muslim relations, he is known for his intellect, his background in the same theological tradition as Benedict, his media savvy and his strong ties with the Italian political establishment. Vatican experts laud his popular touch, even if his writings are often opaque.
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, a dogmatic theologian and a Canadian, is widely seen as a favorite of Benedict, who named him head of the Vatican’s influential Congregation for Bishops to help select bishops around the world. Critics in his native Quebec said that he was out of step with the province’s more progressive bishops, but that is not necessarily a drawback in today’s church.
Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson of Ghana, the head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Justice, is seen as the most likely African contender for the papacy. Educated in Rome and New York, he is known for his semiorthodox views on the use of condoms, saying that married couples could possibly use them to prevent infection when one partner is H.I.V.-positive, although he has also defended Pope Benedict’s remark that condom use increases the risk of AIDS spreading.
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the prefect for the Congregation for Eastern Churches, is an Argentine, who would excite the Latin American wing of the church. He is also a skillful Vatican insider who served in the Secretariat of State under John Paul II and knows how to navigate the Vatican’s complex bureaucracy, which might make him effective, Vatican experts say.
During the cold war it would have been a long shot, but for the first time there is talk that an American, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, could be a contender for pope. His deep conservatism combined with a folksy charisma make him popular with the faithful, at a time when the church is focused on “new evangelization.”
Benedict was seen as a weak manager, and his papacy was troubled by debilitating scandals, most recently one in which his butler was convicted by a Vatican court in October of aggravated theft after he admitted stealing confidential documents, many of which wound up in a tell-all book that showed behind-the-scenes Vatican intrigue.
His successor will have to contend with a range of staggering practical challenges, including a perennial shortage of priests and nuns worldwide, as well as a sexual abuse crisis that has undermined the church’s moral authority, especially in Germany and the English-speaking countries where it has been most aggressively discovered.
“I’d say the biggest challenge was the collapse of Catholic numbers across Europe,” where “Christianity is in such free-fall in former Catholic countries, that the prognosis is not good,” said Philip Jenkins, distinguished professor of history at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University, in Waco, Tex., citing Ireland as a particularly telling case.
In much of the developing world, especially Latin America — which accounts for half of the world’s Catholics — and parts of Africa, evangelical churches are moving in on territory once dominated by the Catholic Church, drawing in new faithful with services that offer upbeat music and an emphasis on self-improvement.
“If I were investing the church’s efforts, I would put Latin American high, to avoid a second Europe,” Mr. Jenkins said.
But the church’s concern about the developing world will not necessarily lead to the selection of a pope from that part of the world, Vatican experts said.
Pope Benedict has appointed 67 cardinals and of these, 37 are from Europe, which remains the most substantial voting block, and potentially the most influential.
Nearly all of the 117 cardinals who will vote for the new pope were appointed by Benedict and his predecessor, John Paul II, both strong traditionalists, and it is likely that the next pope will share their vision and doctrine.
With more than 150 million Catholics and a rapidly growing population, Africa represents one of the church’s few avenues for expansion, and church leaders have assiduously promoted charismatic bishops and cardinals in nations with substantial Catholic populations, like Nigeria and Ghana.
In 2002, Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, spoke of the merits of electing an African pope. “For all its condemnation of racism, the Western world still has reservations about the third world,” he said then. “Yet, in Africa for example, we have truly great figures whom we can only admire. They are fully up to the job.”
But most Vatican experts said that was not likely. “There’s a very strong likelihood that it will be someone from Europe,” said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center, at Georgetown University.
The Vatican spokesman, Father Lombardi, said Monday that after Feb. 28, the pope would retire from public view and would not participate in the appointment of his successor. But many wondered whether his presence would have an impact. “The fact is that he’s alive, and it’s obvious that his opinion, his perception will be felt,” said Paolo Rodari, a Vatican reporter for the daily Il Foglio.
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(3) Pope's sudden resignation sends shockwaves through Church
by Philip Pullella (Reuters, February 11, 2013)
Vatican City - Pope Benedict stunned the Roman Catholic Church on Monday when he announced he would stand down, the first pope to do so in 700 years, saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on.
Church officials tried to relay a climate of calm confidence in the running of a 2,000-year-old institution, but the decision could lead to uncertainty in a Church already besieged by scandal for covering up sexual abuse of children by priests.
The soft-spoken German, who always maintained that he never wanted to be pope, was an uncompromising conservative on social and theological issues, fighting what he regarded as the increasing secularization of society.
It remains to be seen whether his successor will continue such battles or do more to bend with the times.
Despite his firm opposition to tolerance of homosexual acts, his eight year reign saw gay marriage accepted in many countries. He has staunchly resisted allowing women to be ordained as priests, and opposed embryonic stem cell research, although he retreated slightly from the position that condoms could never be used to fight AIDS.
He repeatedly apologized for the Church's failure to root out child abuse by priests, but critics said he did too little and the efforts failed to stop a rapid decline in Church attendance in the West, especially in his native Europe.
In addition to child sexual abuse crises, his papacy saw the Church rocked by Muslim anger after he compared Islam to violence. Jews were upset over rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier. During a scandal over the Church's business dealings, his butler was accused of leaking his private papers.
In an announcement read to cardinals in Latin, the universal language of the Church, the 85-year-old said: "Well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of St Peter ...
"As from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours (1900 GMT) the See of Rome, the See of St. Peter will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is."
POPE DOESN'T FEAR SCHISM
Benedict is expected to go into isolation for at least a while after his resignation. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Benedict did not intend to influence the decision of the cardinals in a secret conclave to elect a successor.
A new leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics could be elected as soon as Palm Sunday, on March 24, and be ready to take over by Easter a week later, Lombardi said.
Several popes in the past, including Benedict's predecessor John Paul, have refrained from stepping down over their health, because of the division that could be caused by having an "ex-pope" and a reigning pope alive at the same time.
Lombardi said the pope did not fear a possible "schism", with Catholics owing allegiances to a past and present pope in case of differences on Church teachings.
He indicated the complex machinery of the process to elect a new pope would move quickly because the Vatican would not have to wait until after the elaborate funeral services for a pope.
It is not clear if Benedict will have a public life after he resigns. Lombardi said Benedict would first go to the papal summer residence south of Rome and then move into a cloistered convent inside the Vatican walls.
The resignation means that cardinals from around the world will begin arriving in Rome in March and after preliminary meetings, lock themselves in a secret conclave and elect the new pope from among themselves in votes in the Sistine Chapel.
There has been growing pressure on the Church for it to choose a pope from the developing world to better reflect where most Catholics live and where the Church is growing.
"It could be time for a black pope, or a yellow one, or a red one, or a Latin American," said Guatemala's Archbishop Oscar Julio Vian Morales.
The cardinals may also want a younger man. John Paul was 58 when he was elected in 1978. Benedict was 20 years older.
"We have had two intellectuals in a row, two academics, perhaps it is time for a diplomat," said Father Tom Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. "Rather than electing the smartest man in the room, they should elect the man who will listen to all the other smart people in the Church."
Liberals have already begun calling for a pope that would be more open to reform.
"The current system remains an 'old boy's club' and does not allow for women's voices to participate in the decision of the next leader of our Church," said the Women's Ordination Conference, a group that wants women to be able to be priests.
"GREAT COURAGE"
The last pope to resign willingly was Celestine V in 1294 after reigning for only five months, his resignation was known as "the great refusal" and was condemned by the poet Dante in the "Divine Comedy". Gregory XII reluctantly abdicated in 1415 to end a dispute with a rival claimant to the papacy.
Lombardi said Benedict's stepping aside showed "great courage". He ruled out any specific illness or depression and said the decision was made in the last few months "without outside pressure". But the decision was not without controversy.
"This is disconcerting, he is leaving his flock," said Alessandra Mussolini, a parliamentarian who is granddaughter of Italy's wartime dictator. "The pope is not any man. He is the vicar of Christ. He should stay on to the end, go ahead and bear his cross to the end. This is a huge sign of world destabilization that will weaken the Church."
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, secretary to the late Pope John Paul, said the former pope had stayed on despite failing health for the last decade of his life as he believed "you cannot come down from the cross."
While the pope had slowed down recently - he started using a cane and a wheeled platform to take him up the long aisle in St Peter's Square - he had given no hint recently that he was considering such a dramatic decision.
Elected in 2005 to succeed the enormously popular John Paul, Benedict never appeared to feel comfortable in the job.
"MIND AND BODY"
In his announcement, the pope told the cardinals that in order to govern "... both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."
Before he was elected pope, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was known as "God's rottweiler" for his stern stand on theological issues. After a few months, he showed a milder side but he never drew the kind of adulation that had marked the 27-year papacy of his predecessor John Paul.
U.S. President Barack Obama extended prayers to Benedict and best wishes to those who would choose his successor.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the pope's decision must be respected if he feels he is too weak to carry out his duties. British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "He will be missed as a spiritual leader to millions."
The Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the worldwide Anglican communion, said he had learned of the pope's decision with a heavy heart but complete understanding.
CHEERS AND SCANDAL
Elected to the papacy on April 19, 2005, Benedict ruled over a slower-paced, more cerebral and less impulsive Vatican.
But while conservatives cheered him for trying to reaffirm traditional Catholic identity, his critics accused him of turning back the clock on reforms by nearly half a century and hurting dialogue with Muslims, Jews and other Christians.
After appearing uncomfortable in the limelight at the start, he began feeling at home with his new job and showed that he intended to be pope in his way.
Despite great reverence for his charismatic, globe-trotting predecessor -- whom he put on the fast track to sainthood and whom he beatified in 2011 -- aides said he was determined not to change his quiet manner to imitate John Paul's style.
A quiet, professorial type who relaxed by playing the piano, he showed the gentle side of a man who was the Vatican's chief doctrinal enforcer for nearly a quarter of a century.
The first German pope for some 1,000 years and the second non-Italian in a row, he traveled regularly, making about four foreign trips a year, but never managed to draw the oceanic crowds of his predecessor.
The child abuse scandals hounded most of his papacy. He ordered an official inquiry into abuse in Ireland, which led to the resignation of several bishops.
Scandal from a source much closer to home hit in 2012 when the pontiff's butler, responsible for dressing him and bringing him meals, was found to be the source of leaked documents alleging corruption in the Vatican's business dealings.
Benedict confronted his own country's past when he visited the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. Calling himself "a son of Germany", he prayed and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, most of them Jews, were killed there.
Ratzinger served in the Hitler Youth during World War Two when membership was compulsory. He was never a member of the Nazi party and his family opposed Adolf Hitler's regime.
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(4) Vatican: Pope Fitted With Pacemaker 'Some Time Ago'
by Philip Pullella (Reuters, February 12, 2013)
VATICAN CITY, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict had a heart pacemaker installed some time ago but was not suffering from poor health and remained lucid and serene in the wake of his decision to resign, the Vatican spokesman said on Tuesday.
It had not been generally known that the 85-year-old pope had been fitted with a pacemaker.
Father Federico Lombardi said the batteries on the appliance were replaced three months ago in a minor, routine intervention but that had played no part in persuading the pontiff to take the shock decision to step down.
"It had no influence on the decision, the reasons were in his perception that his strength had diminished with advancing age," Lombardi told a press briefing at the Vatican.
(5) Papal resignation opens door to many contenders
by Nicole Winfield (AP, February 11, 2013)
Vatican City — Pope Benedict XVI's resignation opens the door to an array of possible successors, from the conservative cardinal of Milan to a contender from Ghana and several Latin Americans. But don't count on a radical change of course for the Catholic Church: Benedict appointed the majority of cardinals who will choose his successor from within their own ranks.
There's no clear front-runner, though several leading candidates have been mentioned over the years as "papabile" — or having the qualities of a pope.
So, will the papacy return to Italy, after three decades of a Polish and a German pope? Or does Latin America, which counts some 40 percent of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, deserve one of their own at the church's helm?
Will a younger cardinal be considered, now that future popes can feel freer to resign? Or will it again go to an experienced cardinal for another "transitional" papacy?
The 110-plus cardinals who are under age 80 and eligible to vote will weigh all those questions and more when they sequester themselves in the Sistine Chapel next month to choose Benedict's successor, a conclave that will likely produce a new pope by Easter.
Some said Benedict's resignation presents an opportunity to turn to Africa or Latin America, where Catholicism is more vibrant.
"Europe today is going through a period of cultural tiredness, exhaustion, which is reflected in the way Christianity is lived," said Monsignor Antonio Marto, the bishop of Fatima in central Portugal. "You don't see that in Africa or Latin America, where there is a freshness, an enthusiasm about living the faith."
"Perhaps we need a pope who can look beyond Europe and bring to the entire church a certain vitality that is seen on other continents."
Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of South Africa agreed.
"I think we would have a better chance of getting someone outside of the Northern hemisphere this time, because there are some really promising cardinals from other parts of the world," he said.
Despite that enthusiasm, more than half of those eligible to vote in the College of Cardinals hail from Europe, giving the continent an edge even though there's no rule that cardinals vote according to their geographic blocs.
It's also likely the next pope won't radically alter the church's course, though surprises are possible.
"Given the preponderance of cardinals appointed by popes John Paul and Benedict, it is unlikely that the next pope will make many radical changes," said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit author. "On the other hand, the papacy can change a man, and the Holy Spirit is always ready to surprise."
A handful of Italians fit the bill, top among them Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan. Scola is close to Benedict, has a fierce intellect and leads the most important archdiocese in Italy — no small thing given that Italians still dominate the College of Cardinals.
On Monday, Scola, 71, donned his bishops' miter and appeared in Milan's Duomo to praise Benedict's "absolutely extraordinary faith and humility."
"This decision, even though it fills us with surprise — and at first glance it leaves us with many questions — will be, as he said, for the good of the church," Scola said.
Other leading Italians include Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican's culture office and another intellectual heavyweight who quotes Hegel and Neitzsche as easily, and almost as frequently, as the Gospels. He has climbed into the spotlight with his "Courtyard of the Gentiles" project, an initiative to enter into dialogue with the worlds of art, culture and science — and most importantly atheists.
Veteran Vatican analyst John Allen Jr. has labled the 70-year-old Ravasi as quite possibly "the most interesting man in the church." Raising his profile further: Benedict appointed him to lead the Vatican's spiritual exercises during Lent, giving Ravasi a visible forum in the weeks leading up to the conclave.
Benedict's onetime theology student, Viennese Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, 68, has long been considered to have the stuff of a pope — multilingual, affable and, most importantly, Benedict's blessing.
He has been dealing, however, with a difficulties in Vienna, where a revolt of dissident priests has questioned church teachings on everything from women's ordination to celibacy for priests. His decision to let a gay Catholic serve on a parish council raised eyebrows among some conservatives, who said the move clearly sealed his fate as too liberal for today's College of Cardinals.
There are a handful of candidates from Latin America — and by Monday their backers were in full force touting their attributes.
"It's time for there to be a Latin American pope, because Latin America has the greatest number of Christians," said the Rev. Juan Angel Lopez, spokesman for the Catholic Church of Honduras. His man, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, however, is considered far too liberal to be elected by such a conservative bloc.
Leading Latin American possibilities include Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, the 63-year-old archbishop of Sao Paulo, and Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 69, head of the Vatican's office for Eastern rite churches. Sandri earned fame as the "voice" of Pope John Paul II when the pontiff lost the ability to speak because of his Parkinson's disease.
Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, 65, has earned praise as head of the Vatican's office for religious congregations, even though he's only held the job since 2011. He has had the difficult task of trying to rebuild trust between the Vatican and religious orders that broke down during his predecessor's reign.
His deputy took that effort too far in reaching out to U.S. nuns who were the subject of a Vatican doctrinal crackdown, and was subsequently sent back to the U.S.
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana is one of the highest-ranking African cardinals at the Vatican, currently heading the Vatican's office for justice and peace. But he is prone to gaffes, though, and is considered something of a wild card.
Cardinal Antonio Tagle, the archbishop of Manila, is a rising star in the church, but at at 56 and having only been named a cardinal last year, he is considered too young.
North America has a few candidates, though the Americans are considered longshots. These include Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Cardinal Raymond Burke, an arch-conservative and the Vatican's top judge.
Canadian Cardinal Marc Oeullet is a contender, earning the respect of his colleagues as head of the Vatican's office for bishops, a tough and important job vetting the world's bishops.
Michele Dillon, a University of New Hampshire sociologist who studies the church, said no "radical transformation" is expected in the direction of the church and that a "tweak" here and there would be more likely than an overhaul.
"The church obviously is well regarded for its continuity," Dillon said. "I'm not personally expecting a transformative change, but change is always possible."
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(6) Why did the Pope resign?
by Eric Marrapodi ("CNN," February 11, 2013)
The questions reverberated from the Vatican to every corner of the Catholic world and left a billion members scratching their heads over something not seen since 1415 - why is the pope resigning now?
Pope Benedict XVI, 85, said Monday that it was because of his age.
"I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry," he read in Latin to a group of cardinals gathered to examine causes for canonization.
The pressures may well have been too much for him to bear. As pope he was the bishop of Rome, the head of a tiny country, and spiritual shepherd to a billion people.
'[I]n today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me," he continued in his statement.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, head of the Vatican press office, told reporters there was no specific health crisis or disease that forced the pope to make the decision at this time.
“The basic take is he is stable and could have gone on at a lower level for some time,” said John Allen, CNN's senior Vatican analyst. Allen pointed out there were no recent hospitalizations or public falls, and the pope likely "decided rather that he would pull the plug now instead of waiting for disaster.”
“Timing is the big shock. We simply had no indication this was coming," Allen said. "The Vatican quite honestly leaks like a sieve. There was no hint this was coming down the pike.”
At 78 when he became pope, he was not a young man and said at the time that he anticipated his papacy would be short.
Before becoming the pope, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had a quiet retirement in mind. He was serving Pope John Paul II as the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, the doctrinal watchdog for the church once called the Inquisition.
In that role, Benedict worked beside Pope John Paul II and watched up close as Parkinson's disease slowly ravaged his predecessor.
When Pope John Paul II died in 2005, Ratzinger was just two years from a forced retirement as a cardinal.
When he was elected by the College of Cardinals to be pope, he joined a line of men that stretched 2,000 years from Jesus' disciple Peter to today.
What is known about the pope’s medical history is scant: In 1991 he had a brain hemorrhage, but that did not prevent him from continuing his career. And in 2009 a fall led to a broken wrist. So his decision to leave his post while showing little sign of any ailment has opened the door to speculation.
"The sad suspicion is his mind is going," said Michael Sean Winters, a visiting fellow at the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at the Catholic University of America and a blogger for Distinctly Catholic at the National Catholic Reporter.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said he thought the pope looked "frail" when he was in Cuba earlier this year. He walks with a cane and often could be seen struggling to move around the altar as he celebrated Mass.
“At 85 years old, in your 86th year, I think you’re entitled to walk with a cane," Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., said at a news conference. He was at the Vatican with the pope for much of October for a synod meeting. "He seemed not only very alert but full of energy,” Wuerl said.
"He presided at meeting after meeting after meeting, there was no doubt he was in full possession of his faculties. He would give talks to us without notes in front of him. I am younger than the pope and I wouldn’t have begun my remarks without notes," Wuerl said. "He had no problem at all speaking with great clarity.”
Allen, who was at an event with the pope with a visiting dignitary, recently said, “He was all there mentally.”
Even if his mind remains sharp, the office brings with it a schedule that would exhaust men a quarter of the pope's age.
There are endless meetings at the Vatican with clergy, diplomats and heads of state. This year he completed hour-long meetings with every bishop in the United States, according to Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois.
“It’s a grueling and demanding schedule to keep up with,” Paprocki said.
As the pope, “there’s an expectation you’re going to be doing trans-Atlantic flights and his doctors have warned him against it the whole time," Winters said.
Last year alone the pope traveled to Mexico, Cuba, and Lebanon.
While the most plausible explanation for his resignation seems to be the most benign, there are other elements of scandal and mismanagement at the Vatican that may have also played a role.
“No one is going to say this was a well-managed papacy,” Winters said.
There were scandals that rocked both the church as a whole and the tightly knit community in Vatican City.
The child sex abuse scandal continued to plague the church globally even as strict reforms were put in place. A visible sign of the scandal at the coming conclave to select a new pope will be Cardinal Roger Mahoney, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, who was stripped of his public and administrative duties this month by his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, for his role in covering up a child sex abuse scandal. A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles confirmed Mahoney will be attending the conclave.
Inside the walled compound of the Vatican City, the Vatican Bank is being investigated for noncompliance with European money laundering protections. The head of the bank left in disgrace.
The pope saw his own butler betray him by stealing documents from his desk and passing them to journalists, and internal battles erupt over alleged mismanagement.
On Sunday, the pope tweeted, "We must trust in the mighty power of God’s mercy. We are all sinners, but His grace transforms us and makes us new."
The mention of personal sin was not out of character with the Christian belief outlined in Paul's letter to the Romans that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
In his statement Monday he again turned to flaws, saying, "Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects."
Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said he expects a new pope will be in place in time for Easter.
The pope gave little indication of what his future might hold, where he would live and what life for a former pope might entail. He concluded his statement by saying, "I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer."
・Disclaimer: WWRN does not endorse or adhere to views or opinions expressed in the articles posted. This is purely an information site, to inform interested parties of religious trends.
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