Cardinal Re: "Paul VI. Had Prepared Two Letters of Resignation"

Cardinal Re and Cardinal Sodano (right) -- Today Deacon and
Subdeacon of the Cardinal Collegium -- Immediately After Pope Benedict's Resignation

(Rome) Had Pope Paul VI. already prepared for resignation? This is what Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re claimed in a long interview with the magazine Araberara, which was released yesterday.

The former prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops and the present Subdeacon of the Cardinal Collegium tells of "his" six popes, revealing a hitherto unknown detail.

Pope Paul VI, who ruled from 1963, died on 6 August 1978 of a heart attack. According to his closest collaborators, the abduction of his personal friend, the Italian Prime Minister and Christian Democrat politician Aldo Moro by the Communist Red Brigades (BR) had crushed him. The Pope had publicly offered himself to the terrorists as a hostage in exchange for Moro, but he was found murdered in a car on 9 May 1978.

Cardinal Re now revealed that Paul VI. had written two letters of resignation. The Cardinal does not make any connections. It is, however, to be assumed that they are directly related to the abduction of Moro and his readiness to be held hostage. Cardinal Re seems to be less concerned with the historical context, but with the current reference to a resignation of the Pope, which has been a subject of controversy since the unexpected resignation of Benedict XVI.

"At that time," said the Cardinal, church law did not foresee an apostate in the office of the Church, with the exception of the fact that the Cardinal's collegium assented to this. For this reason, Paul VI. wrote a letter of resignation, and sent a second letter to the Cardinal Dean, asking him to convince the Cardinal's collegium of the necessity releasing him from the Office.

Cardinal Re knew of these letters "because Pope John Paul II showed them to me."

The cardinal subdeacon  confirmed in the interview also a grueling stalemate, which was given in the two conclaves of the year 1978. Cardinal Secretary of State Giovanni Benelli and Cardinal Giuseppe Siri of Genoa were opposed to each other as opponents. Since neither Benelli nor Siri received sufficient votes to create the breakthrough, Patriarch Albino Luciani (John Paul I) and then the Archbishop of Krakow Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) were elected as pope.

John Paul I said Cardinal Re: "He wanted to meet me and told me that he thought the papacy was too great a burden."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: Vatican.va (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Pope Francis Is Going to Be 80 -- The Possibility of a Resignation

By Roberto de Mattei *

Pope Francis is crossing the threshold of 80: Ingravescentem aetatem (advanced age), as the motu proprio of 21 November 1970 by Paul VI declared, which, by reaching this age, requires all cardinals to put their tasks to an end, and deprives them of the right to participate in the conclave. Paul VI. established this rule to create a new "Montinian" curia. Moreover, he introduced a fundamental contradiction in the Church's more than a thousand years of practice.

If the advanced age is an impediment to the direction of a diocese or a dicastery, and even prevents a cardinal from choosing a pope, how can we imagine that a cardinal who has become a pope, even after the age of eighty? Can he bear the burden of the world church?

It was not, however, such considerations that urged Pope Francis on 12 March 2015 to say:

"I have the feeling that my pontificate will be short, 4, 5 years. Perhaps it is not so, but I have the feeling that the Lord has set me up for a brief cause. But it is a feeling, so I leave all possibilities open. "

The real reason for a possible abdication does not seem to be a decline in capability, but Pope Bergoglio's awareness, not two years after his election, to be penetrated into what Antonio Socci in the newspaper on November 20, 2016 Libero describes as the relentless "decline of a pontificate."

The project of Pope Francis to "reform" the Church with the help of the bishop's synod and various collaborators, is well in place, and the record of the Holy Year is more than disappointing. On November 21, 2016 Marco Politi wrote in the daily Il Fatto quotidiano :

"Pope Francis closed the Holy Door, but his message is accompanied by the rumbling of a subterranean crisis. There is a civil war in the Church. "

The dispute was whether consciously or unconsciously, unleashed by Pope Francis himself, especially after the Apostolic Letter Amoris laetitia, the Church no longer moves forward, but is sinking into a terrain riddled with deep crevices.

The failure of the pontificate of Pope Francis has already been compared to that of Barack Hussein Obama. In three years in Rome, what has taken place in Washington in eight years: the transition from an initial euphoria to a final depression, because the set goals were completely missed. It would be wrong, however, to read the pontificate of Pope Francis only from a political point of view. Pope Francis could never have pronounced Obama's "yes, we can".

For a pope, as opposed to a politician, everything is not possible. The Pope has a supreme, full, immediate, and universal authority, but can not alter the Divine Law that Jesus Christ gave to the Church, nor change the natural law which God has imprinted in the heart of every man. He is the vicar of Christ, but not his successor. The Pope can not alter either the Holy Scriptures or the tradition which form the far-reaching rule of the Church's faith, but must submit to them.

This is the impasse in which Pope Bergoglio is today. The Dubia that four cardinals (Brandmüller, Burke, Caffarra and Meisner) have laid before the CDF  have forced him upon a dead track. The Cardinals expect a clear response from the Pope on the Apostolic Letter Amoris laetitia with a yes or a no to the following questions:

Can divorced persons who have once again married once and who do not want to give up their objectively sinful situation in which they find themselves, rightfully receive the sacrament of the Eucharist? And more generally: Do the Divine Law and Natural Law still have absolute validity, or do they tolerate exceptions in some cases?

The answer concerns the foundations of morality and the Catholic faith. If what was valid yesterday is no longer valid today, then what is valid today, will not be valid tomorrow. If, however, morality can change according to time and circumstances, the Church is destined to perish in the relativism of today's fluid society. If this is not the case, Cardinal Vallini must be exempted from his office, who stated in his speech at the pastoral meeting of the diocese of Rome last September 19 that newly married divorced persons may be admitted to the communion in accordance with an "assessment which is appropriate case by case." His position set out on 2 December in the daily newspaper Avvenire, a media organ of the Italian Bishops' Conference as his own, that according to the Amoris laetitia contains "very clear words" upon which "the Pope has set his imprimatur".

But can the Pope confer on the shepherds' "judgment" the authority to transcend the law of God and the right of nature, the preserve of which is the Church? When a pope tries to change the faith of the Church, he explicitly or implicitly renounces his mandate as vicar of Christ, and sooner or later he will be compelled to renounce his pontificate. The possibility of such an explosive result can not be ruled out in 2017. The self-imposed abdication would allow Pope Francis to abandon the field as a misunderstood reformer, and to attribute to the responsibility for his failure upon the "severity" of the curia.  If this is to happen, it will be more likely to happen after the next consistory, which allows Pope Francis to once again plant a new group of cardinals near him to influence the Holy College, thereby influencing the choice of his successor. The other possibility is the fraternal reprimand by the Cardinals, which, as soon as it becomes publicly known, corresponds to a determination of errors and heresies.

Nothing is more erroneous than the sentence of Cardinal Hummes, in reference to the total number of cardinals: "They are only four, we are 200". Apart from not counting on numbers to demonstrate the fidelity to the Gospel, what are the 200 Cardinals, who are 227 to be exact, to whom Hummes has referred, who have distanced themselves from their four confreres. Have they actually distanced themselves by their silence from Pope Francis?  The first observations in support of the Dubia by Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum , and Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Economic Secretariat, are meaningful. Some are beginning to break their silence. There are not 200, but certainly more than four.

* Roberto de Mattei , historian, father of five children, Professor of Modern History and History of Christianity at the European University of Rome, president of Lepanto Foundation, author of numerous books, most recently appeared: Vicario di Cristo. Il primato di Pietro tra normalità ed eccezione (Vicar of Christ. The Primacy of Peter Between Normality and Exception), Verona 2013; In German translation at last: The Second Vatican Council - a hitherto unwritten story, Ruppichteroth 2011.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Ingravescente Ætate -- Three Years Ago: The Resignation from Office Struck Light Lightning

(Rome) Three years ago today, Pope Benedict XVI. completely surprised the world with the announcement of his resignation. 17 days later, he resigned from the office of Peter and left the Vatican. He changed the course of history.

" Ingravescente Aetate ", because of advanced age, was the reasoning that went through like a thunderbolt in the Church. In fact, a real lightning bolt struck the same evening on the dome of St. Peter. A natural phenomenon, which inspires horror to this day.

At that time it was claimed by some quarters in order to placate that the like had been done often and was nothing extraordinary. But neither before nor since has the "like" happened.

Benedict XVI. is yet alive, as his recent public performances have shown, and in command of his faculties.

His resignation is not comparable to anything in church history. No pope before him has resigned for "age reasons" from an office held for a lifetime.

In ten months his successor, Pope Francis, will complete his 80th year. He would have left the circle of papal electors and therefore, de facto, also from among the "papabili".


Link to Katholisches...
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Gänswein on Benedict XVI.: "His Head is Working Fine" -- Resignation "Was Necessary"

Benedict XVI, Msgr. Gänswein, Lebanese Delegation Praying
Rosary in the Vatican Garden

(Vatican) Curial Archbishop George Gänswein has reported in an interview with Corriere della Sera from last February 15, about the life of Pope Benedict XVI. two years after his resignation. The frequency of such interviews indicates media interest for the unusual situation of an incumbent and an "emeritus" Pope. To Gänswein, equipped with the special authority of being the closest associate of Benedict,  it seems to fall  the task of emphasizing the "continuity" between the two pontificates. This insistence would not be necessary if this "continuity" were actually so evident. Most media representatives disagree, even among the faithful there is some doubt. Corriere della Sera refers to its formal legal nature, and less on the content.

Benedict himself was "sure": The resignation "was necessary"

"He plays Mozart, studies" and "loves to go for walks. He is very relaxed," said the Prefect of the Apostolic House.  On the question of how Benedict XVI. now sees his resignation, Gänswein replied, "Benedict XVI. is satisfied that the decision taken and announced was the right one. He has no doubt. He is sure of it: His decision was necessary"  He did everything with his conscience repeatedly tested before God and made the decision in the knowledge that his forces are dwindling and it is not about his person, but he goes "for the good of the Church."

"The reasons can be found in his declaratio," says Archbishop Gänswein with which Benedict XVI. announced  his resignation in a few words. "The Church needs a strong helmsman. All other considerations and hypotheses are wrong," said the former papal secretary, who then addressed the resignation by confirming:  "You are quite right: it was a great act of government for the Church."

Doubters Missing "Feeling with the Church" - Benedict Promised "Obedience" to Francis

Corriere della Sera turned the interview on the strong doubts about the continuity between the two pontificates. They were described as legal uncertainties that are primarily fueled by the Catholic journalist Antonio Socci. What is "be answered to those who are in doubt as to the validity of the resignation or the election of Francis?" Curial Archbishop Gänswein said this: "You can not form a hypotheses on things that are not true, but completely absurd. Benedict himself has said that he  made ​​up his mind freely and without any pressure. And has said to the new Pope, 'I promise' reverence and obedience.

Why there is then this doubt  about,  Corriere della Sera wants to know,  to include a possible answer yourself: "Does he feel absent from the Church?"  "Yes," Gänswein said, "doubts about the resignation and the election stem from the fact."

And how  was Benedict XVI. today? There are always reports of concern about his health, said Italy's  most important  newspaper. "There is a lot of malice, people who want to harm Benedict XVI., who is a man of almost 88 years. It is normal that sometimes his legs give him some problems at his age. That's all. He has his daily routine. He is very methodical. And his head is working fine. His spirit is great. Since the Urban University has asked that the Banquet Hall be named after him and Cardinal Filoni has asked him to Lectio in October for the opening of the academic year, he has written a beautiful text about the 'question of truth' and asked me to read it to him."

Benedict 'lives very methodically, receiving visits and corresponds "

How does Benedict XVI. spend the days? "His typical day begins with Mass in the morning, as always, a little later, at 7:45.  Then follows the thanksgiving, the breviary, a quick breakfast. In the morning he prays, reads, studies, drafts correspondence and sometimes receives visits. At half past one o'clock we have lunch and then take a walk on the terrace, two or three rounds before he rests. At a quarter past three we go to the Vatican Gardens. We walk to the Grotto of Lourdes, pray the Rosary and remain there in prayer. Then there is time for prayer and study. At half past seven clock we have dinner and watch the Italian news on television. Benedict prays evening Compline in the chapel and then withdraws. Sometimes he plays the piano. Especially in the past few weeks he has started to play again often! Mainly Mozart, but other pieces that just come to his mind. He plays from memory, without notes."

In allusion to his papal name after the great Benedict,  Father of Monasticism and the retreat to the monastery, Archbishop Gänswein said: "Yes, he has chosen a monastic life. Now he only goes out if Pope Francis asks him, while other invitations he does not accept."  Gänswein quoted the Pope literally:  "I chose this life, I have to be consistent in accordance with my decision."

Benedict and Francis "very different", but "united in substance"

The question of the substantive continuity has caused varying degrees of unease in the Catholic world is only nearly touched in the interview. Benedict XVI. and Francis, "are different, sometimes very different, in  expression. But they are united by  substance, of content, to proclaiming to propagation and defense of the deposit of faith," said Curial Archbishop George Gänswein.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: cristiano Umanesimo

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

The Resignation of Benedict XVI From a "Handicapped Pontificate"

Pope Benedict XVI. and a Ceaseless Multiple
Attacks From Within and Without Handicapped
Pontificat, Which Ended With His Resignation 

(Rome) Cordialiter, which is a blog of  Catholic tradition with a restrained and balanced editorial line, has published a quite credible eyewitness account. Credible in connection with  its evidence about that "disabled pontificate" of Benedict XVI. LIke no pope in recent history,  Benedict XVI. was not attacked from outside, but handicapped by open disobedience from inside.

The description confirms the existence of an apparent dichotomy between tradition and neo-modernism. It's also  visible that besides the so-called "crypto-Lefebvrians", of which the Apostolic Commissioner of battered Franciscans of the Immaculate spoke, there is a strong group of crypto-schismatics there that are in no way limited to those parts of the German, Austrian and Swiss episcopate and their apparati.

On the Resignation of Benedict XVI.

I would guess that I do consider the resignation of Benedict XVI  to be valid. What I am describing today is from  a dear friend who gave me permission to publish the message on the condition that their names not be mentioned.

In the cloistered convent, where she lived, modernist priests often came to propagandize  the sisters, to "aggiornare" [Bringing them "up to date"]. One of these priests asked the nuns to pray that Benedict XVI. resigns. My friend, who preferred to keep her  traditional friendly attitude from these priests, and thus made friends  with  a priest, a leading representative of the modernist movement. He confided to her  quite openly that he and others like him among the clergy and the religious gathered thousands of signatures to urge Pope Benedict XVI. to resign. 

My friend asked the priest what will happen in the event that the Holy Father were to refuse to resign. The Modernist replied that the Pope had already been informed about it: If he does not resign, they would establish a new, separate church of Rome. And it will not be a small church.' According to what was known to him, many Church leaders would be willing to join the new modernist church. The crypto-schismatic clergy also laid emphasis on the finding that they preemptively support had been assured by those already who control some of the leading mass media and the media would promote the new church.

Some time later, on February 11, 2013 Benedict XVI  actually announced his resignation. My friend told me many more details, whose the publication of for several reasons would be unwise.

Now many will think: If things are to be so, then the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. is invalid. Because in order to be valid, it must be done voluntarily and without any compulsion. To me it is still hard to believe that Benedict XVI. could have made such a serious step to make a false resignation leaving the church in the hands of a false pope (regardless of ever being elected in the conclave).

Therefore, I am of the opinion that Benedict XVI., as he saw himself besieged by a flood of conspirators who were willing to schism, the most stressful thing that can happen to a pope, who was already 86 years old, no longer felt the power to effectively govern the Church and to resist the subversion of the modernists, who preferred to abdicate.

Ultimately, he did not renounce his office, because he was put under pressure, otherwise the resignation would be invalid, but because he no longer felt the physical and spiritual strength because of his age, which he considers necessary in order to oppose the modernist movement.

Reason for Withdrawal too Banal For Office and Office Holder?

Cordialiter's argument remains weak on this point, that Benedict XVI. precisely because of the underlying, but noticeable  refusal to follow by  many church leaders could not guarantee that a Pope they desired would emerge from a conclave. The validity of this described also can be due to lack of secure data check difficult to understand why it is easy to brush off or could be initially dismissed even as a belated construct. The good reputation of Cordialiter guarantees sufficient credibility, not to omit any of the facts.

The  nun's description proves in any case, that the spectacular and completely unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. is still something of a mystery and which preoccupy many Catholics. The withdrawal is a serious shadow on the pontificate of this great thinker and prince of the Church who has had his legacy severely damaged. Ultimately, because that he did it himself and thus only official reason seems so banal. Too mundane for this office and this office holders.

Benedict XVI. Year and a Half After Withdrawal of "Extraordinary Mental Vigor"

This fueled speculation which will continue to boil as long as Benedict XVI. is in such good health, demonstrated in how he has held for the second time since his resignation the Schulkreis for his former students and celebrated Holy Mass  for the meeting with his on Sunday. He showed at the same time, in spite of all age-related restriction, to be intellectually and theologically clearly superior to the reigning Pope. Father Stephan Horn, spokesman for the Ratzinger student circle reported on the question to Vatican Radio : "What was it like to celebrate with the Pope Emeritus"

"Wonderful! The joy of the Holy Father, the solemn Holy Mass with an address is how he always does it, the theme of the Gospel and reading. We hope that we can publish this speech one day on our website. He has really preached freshly. This has been shown also in the subsequent meeting that he has worked almost livelier than a year ago. Of course he's a little older, and he feels that it is no longer as easy to walk. But his mental vigor was quite extraordinary."

The "Murder Plot" and the End of the Pontificate

In connection with the Cordialiter report, namely that:  it is also important to recall  the "secure message" which Archbishop Paolo Cardinal Romeo of Palermo and his European travel companions, mostly businessmen, gave in the mid-November 2011 during a trip to the People's Republic of China, where he announced that the pontificate of Benedict XVI. will only last more than one year. Pope Benedict XVI. was informed  by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos in a personal letter  deliberately written  in German language letter about it in January 2012.

The precise details of the end of the pontificate came from Romeos' interlocuters, of which the Colombian Castrillon Hoyos was informed, who had come to the conclusion that there was a murder plot afoot against the German pope. The anonymous note about Romeos' China discussions to Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos was dated 30 December 2011.   The frightening term "murder plot"  was  used by the Colombian cardinal, who had come to the same conclusion, then he wrote explicitly in his letter to Benedict XVI. and the person who brought the letter to the Pope   with the inscription on the envelope: "Strictly confidential". Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, then responded to the letter and content, and was limited to the words: "It seems so incredible that I do not even want to comment on it."

The Pastor Initiatives as Leverage Against Benedict XVI.

The nun told Cordialiter of signatures from clergy, with which the modernists wanted to use to force Benedict XVI.  to resign.  That could have been the Pontificate's interaction with the Pastor Initiatives since 2006, which were initiated in Austria and spread in the following years in many westernized countries. In June 2011, the "Call to Disobedience" followed. That the internal Church confrontation was decisive on this front, it witnessed what was for many observers the   direct rebuke of the rebellious cleric by Benedict XVI,  at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, 2012, ten months before the announcement of his official resignation. He refused for the world Church to hear the demands of the priest rebels. He took every effort,  to which the Austrian episcopate could not  or or did not want to implement.  Only the "radicality of obedience" is an appropriate requirement for a "real renewal" in the Church, said the leader of the Catholic Church  to the disobedient ones.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Chiesa e Postconcilio
Trans: vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

John Paul II's Secretary: "One does not climb down from the cross."

Warsaw (kath.net/ CBA) Warsaw (kath.net / CBA) Provocative statement: The Krakow Cardinal and long-time secretary of Pope John Paul II (1978-2005), Stanislaw Dziwisz, has caused concern in Poland with a remark on the Pope's resignation. Blessed John Paul II, had fulfilled the papacy, despite serious illness, until his death and said, "one does not climb down from the cross." Polish media reports on Monday quoted Dziwisz. On this question, the Wojtyla-Pope had also consulted with the then Joseph Ratzinger, the Prefect of the Curia. Despite his "great surprise" over the resignation of Benedict XVI., he understands, however, this decision to resign for age and health reasons, says Dziwisz.

In a written statement the Krakow Cardinal, said Benedict XVI. has led the Church "with great caution and wisdom." He was very grateful for Benedict XVI's "extraordinary benevolence towards the Polish people" and the beatification of John Paul II in May 2011.

The Warsaw Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz spoke of a "great loss" for the Church. Benedict XVI. had "excellently fulfilled both spiritually and intellectually guided the Church" in his duties as pope, said Nycz. The announcement of the resignation was for him personally a "great surprise," the Cardinal said. He accepted, however, that Benedict XVI. must have important reasons for such "unprecedented decision".

The President of the Polish Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Jozef Michalik, recalled that Benedict XVI. during the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square again preached to the Polish pilgrims in their language. "Poland was in his heart." The bishops prayed that the Pope resignation would be accepted in an "atmosphere of faith."

Link kath.net...

Munich Canonist: Pope May Retract His Resignation

Edit:  the following statement was made at the end of his Lectio Divina lecture where he made some extemporaneous comments, taken from the Italian commentator, Sandro Magister:

"Naturally, there is a false optimism and a false pessimism. A false pessimism that says: the time of Christianity is finished. No: it is beginning again! The false optimism was that after the Council, when the convents were closing, the seminaries were closing, and they were saying: but it's nothing, everything's fine . . . No! Everything is not fine. There are also grave, dangerous downfalls, and we must recognize with healthy realism that this is not all right, it is not all right when wrongful things are done. But also to be sure, at the same time, that if here and there the Church is dying because of the sins of men, because of their unbelief, at the same time it is being born anew. The future really does belong to God: this is the great certainty of our life, the great, true optimism that we know. The Church is the tree of God that lives forever and bears within itself eternity and the true inheritance: eternal life.” 

Stephan Haering:  it is canonically speaking the Pope would have time yet till the 28th of February to retract his resignation.

Munich (kath.net/KNA)  Pope Benedict XVI. will, according to the opinion of the Canon Lawyer Stephan Haering would hold the status of a Bishop Emeritus.  Officially there is no clear ruling for a Pope emeritus, said Haering on Monday to Munich's Church Radio.  Canoically speaking the Pope would still however have until the 28th of February to withdraw his resignation.  Haering expects that Benedict XVI. will withdraw from public.

In relation to the coming Conclave the Professor from Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich in doesn't not venture any speculation on the Pope's decision over the next two weeks.  "I don't think he will name any more Cardinals, but he will probably undertake the usual functions of the Papal office."

Link to kath.net...

For the Record: Pope Benedict XVI is First Pope to Resign Since Gregory XII

Penance: From the Paris Psalter

Edit: there will be a Conclave in March.  Interesting that Cardinal Muller, now the Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith, won't have a vote in the next Conclave.

Considering that the Holy Father is taking his singular and shocking step by announcing his resignation just before Lent and on the same day he's announced the Canonization of the Martyrs of Otranto, this resignation really has really been conceived to induce penance and deep meditation.

Here's a statement from the Holy Father:

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

Video to the Martyrs of Otranto, whose Canonization was announced today by the Holy Father:



Other Popes who've resigned...

Cleveland..St. Malacy.

Conclave in March...

Cardinal Keith O'Brien shocked by the news...

Resigning for health reasons...

Remnant frets about wolves, and mentions Vatileaks, but suggests end run by Pope Benedict....

Edit cont:  This puts Benedict in a position to influence the choice of a successor, while he works behind the scenes to effect his policies.  Whether this is true remains to be seen.

Many of this Pope's initiatives, like Reform of the Reform when some high-profile resignations and the reconciliation with the Society of St. Pius X, took a serious hit after Vatileaks as well.  This may be an effort to sidestep the issues raised by that, or it may indeed be a final nail in the coffin of those initiatives.

Hopefully, it will be remember that it is God who is in charge of His Church as he continues to chose men who serve Him as shepherds of His flock on earth.

Also, as Scott Hahn pointed out this morning, and we noted long ago.  This Pope has a devotion to St. Pope Celestine V.

Expect the next Pope to be Conservative.