Pope Benedict XVI Resigns

I've recently learned through the wonderful world of trickling information through the internet that the Patriarch of Catholicism has decided to step down from his most holiest of posts, designated to him by his god directly, and resigned his seat.

This is a very curious turn of events, so let's see if we can't try and understand what's happening here, and what this means for the Catholic Church and it's future, shall we? We shall! Below, you can read as I have his written statement which is addressed to, I assume, the Cardinals of Rome.

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, 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. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in 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 bark 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.

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

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. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

With this being read, what can be gleaned from the statement itself in it's most basic form?

1. Pope Benedict XVI has examined his conscience before his god.
2. Pope Benedict XVI describes the nature of his post - words, deeds, prayer, suffering.
3. Pope Benedict XVI is in poor health - poor enough to force him to consider resigning his post.
4. Pope Benedict XVI understands that the act of resigning from his post is a serious act.
5. Pope Benedict XVI declares that with full freedom he renounces the ministry of Bishop of Rome.
6. Pope Benedict XVI states the exact date and time of his resignation: 2/28/2013 20:00 hrs
7. Pope Benedict XVI states that he entrusts the Church to their supreme Pastor, Jesus Christ.

Well, those are some very curious things, indeed. Let's look at them for a moment and try to understand what's being said. Firstly, a very strange comment - at least to me, it may be understood as normal to a Catholic - stating that he's examined his conscience before his god. Let's use Socratic Philosophy to try and figure this madness out, shall we? What can be said about the words "examined" and "conscience"? To examine is to view closely, to judge for defect. If you examine something, you're carefully looking it over and noting details about it. One's conscience is understood to be that little voice inside one's mind that helps with ethical decisions. If your conscience is clear, you're at peace with yourself because you have no regrets, would you not agree? If your conscience bothers you often, you clearly have something in your past that you certainly don't want hitting the front page of the newspaper. I would say that the larger question is: What was the result of his conscience examination? I would imagine it was not clear, as shuttling pedophiles around to different churches after they diddle little kids repeatedly would weigh on one's conscience, wouldn't you?

Then he offers a list of the duties of his post - not only in word and deed, but in prayer and suffering. This is also very curious, because if a portion of his post is suffering, for one thing, living in a mansion being waited on hand and foot every day of your life seems a bit less like suffering and more like monarchy. However, if he truly wishes to suffer for his post, I would imagine suffering through failing health due to aging would be a very welcomed struggle to one in his most pious position. It doesn't appear that he wishes to fulfill his duty of suffering , and is instead simply walking away from it; he takes the easy road and has chosen instead NOT to suffer, and simply walks away from his duties and post.

He then states that it is understood to him that in resigning from his post as High Bishop of the Catholic Church, he is doing something "serious". Obviously it's a serious action, but just HOW serious is this resignation that he's doing? Let's look at a bit of Catholic history, and try to find an answer.

• Marcellinus: This early church pope abdicated or was deposed in 304 after complying with the Roman emperor's order to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Apparently, this Pope resigned because he was forced into doing something against his religious beliefs and was shamed.
• Benedict IX: Sold the papacy to his godfather Gregory VI and resigned in 1045. The current, soon to be former, Pope's namesake, apparently desired money above all else, selling the big seat to someone else and resigning.
• Celestine V: Overwhelmed by the demands of the office, this hermetic pontiff stepped down after five months as pope in 1294. Pope Benedict XVI prayed at his tomb in the central Italian city of L'Aquila in 2009. Apparently this Pope didn't like the limelight, and resigned his post in order to be more secluded. Hey, thanks god for the vote of confidence, now piss off!
• Gregory XII: The last pope to resign, Gregory XII stepped down in 1415 to help end a church schism. Basically, upon a small bit of quick research, this Pope and another had claim to the big seat, and he made a mistake by sending a proxy to a meeting in his stead, who agreed, while speaking on Gregory's behalf, that Gregory would step down. Screwed over because he didn't want to go to a meeting, good job.

So what does this mean? Only 4 Popes in the Catholic Church's history have ever resigned by some means or another, and they were all under very strange circumstances - all except this one. Is Benedict XVI feeling guilt finally about all the pedophilia that's gone on under his reign that he's done absolutely nothing with but cover it up? Is he finally coming to terms with the insanity of claiming condoms are immoral and banned by the Church in Africa, making 100% certain that the widespread overpopulation and spread of the AIDS virus goes unchecked by any means? Has he actually understood that his religion is nothing more than a ponzy scheme, custom built to gather large amounts of donations (offerings) from the poor, meek, and mild only to live in the lap of luxury - in a palace worth millions? Who knows, but I for one am glad he's going bye bye. Maybe the next Pope can use wisdom, intelligence, and common sense to dictate to the ignorant masses what to think, do, feel, and believe.