pope to step down

trekkie · **Posted:** February 11th, 2013, 8:58 am

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict shocked the world on Monday by saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to cope with his ministry, in an announcement that left his aides "incredulous" and will make him the first pontiff to step down since the Middle Ages.

The German-born Pope, 85, hailed as a hero by conservative Roman Catholics and viewed with suspicion by liberals, told cardinals in Latin that his strength had deteriorated recently. He will step down on February 28 and the Vatican expects a new Pope to be chosen by the end of March.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Pope had not decided to resign because of "difficulties in the papacy" and the move had been a surprise, indicating that even his inner circle was unaware that he was about to quit.

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-resigns-sayi ... istry-112923467.html

wow... did not expect this.

Adbot · **Posted:** February 11th, 2013, 8:58 am

Kyle · **Posted:** February 11th, 2013, 9:12 am

Has to be something being the scenes to make him do this, o well we get to see a 2nd Pope elected in our lifetime.

Duke Juker · RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010

Someone just did something they weren't supposed to do by leaving. xD

trekkie · **Posted:** February 12th, 2013, 9:37 pm

could be a sign that zeus approves.

King Kulla · **Posted:** February 12th, 2013, 10:59 pm

Apparently one of the frontrunners is a Canadian cardinal who only turned to the priesthood after contemplation after getting a hockey injury when he was 17.

The stereotypes just write themselves! :lol:

Jamandy52 · **Posted:** February 13th, 2013, 12:53 am

pretty interesting. How are new popes chosen if I might ask?

Adbot · **Posted:** February 13th, 2013, 12:53 am

King Kulla · **Posted:** February 13th, 2013, 2:40 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_conclave

Basically all the cardinals from around the world go to the Vatican and have a secret vote. The more divided the Church is, the longer the vote takes.

Jamandy52 · **Posted:** February 13th, 2013, 3:14 pm

Ah ok

Thanks for teaching me something new ^^

trekkie · **Posted:** February 14th, 2013, 12:01 am

and if they do not choose a new pope, they let white smoke out of a smoke stack. when the new pope has been chosen, the smoke is a different color, black i believe.

soooo basically cardinals are getting high while voting.

Duke Juker · RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010

Other way around, trekkie. If the cardinals don't select a pope, a chemical is added to the ballots that makes the smoke black. If a pope is selected, the ballots are burned without a chemical which produces white smoke signifying one has been selected.

HowStuffWorks has a good explanation of how it all works.

As for the Canadian cardinal, from what I've read, he doesn't want to be selected, but he does know a lot of languages and is a pretty powerful cardinal so he's a good candidate. There are other people in the running though. Just Google something like "who will be the next pope" and you should find quite a few websites that have a list of top contenders.

trekkie · **Posted:** February 14th, 2013, 10:26 pm

my bad duke, thanks for clearing that up.

still cardinals get high while selecting a pope.

Killjoy · **Posted:** February 15th, 2013, 6:13 pm

They should hire two popes so they can play good pope, bad pope.