Pope resigns

[Lozzles]

I am no relgious zealot and neither am I a catholic, but I have to say I am quite shocked at the flippancy of some of the replies on here.

It is a piece of news of great significance and great importance, to most of us anyway.

I am a Catholic and I did expect flippancy. It is of great interest to me and I wonder what the coming months will bring.

[Kaz]

Tony Blair????

Naaaaaah I reckon Teflon Tone thinks he can walk on water, and therefore will be hanging out for higher office.............

I was surprised by this news as I didn't know Pope's could resign - I thought they always died in office

[Kaz]

Rodo, we live in a very secular society these days so I think whilst it is of interest to many, it is perhaps not felt to be of great importance to us personally?

I mean no offence, certainly

[saundra]

im not a catholic but i watched with interest
when he came to uk
i find the the garments they wear absolutly beautifull
nothing to do with religon i know
its all built on wealth

[cromwell]

I am no relgious zealot and neither am I a catholic, but I have to say I am quite shocked at the flippancy of some of the replies on here.

It is a piece of news of great significance and great importance, to most of us anyway.

It will be interesting to see who the new Pope is. There are two African Cardinals in the frame, according to TV news, a Frenchman, the Cardinal of Turin and one from Latin America.
I hadn't realised the current Pope was so ill.
Tonight it showed him when he became Pope eight years ago, and now. The difference was astonishing; obviously he has difficulty walking and he looks so frail.

[Oojamaflip]

I am no relgious zealot and neither am I a catholic, but I have to say I am quite shocked at the flippancy of some of the replies on here.

Shocked? I can just picture it.

Why be shocked? I guess to most of the world for whom the Pope, or Roman Catholicism, has no significance at all, it's just another piece of news that feeds humour or wry comments given the dubious recent history of that particular denomination. Magdalene homes; child abuse anyone?

It is a piece of news of great significance and great importance, to most of us anyway.

Of course it is, for some. Most of us? I doubt it. This is an increasingly secularised country/world and so most it will make no difference at all, unless maybe you're a priest who wants to marry, or a woman who needs an abortion, or a child who has been abused and wants people to be held to account, or . . . you hope for significant change for whatever the personal reasons.

To most, it's of no more significance that the fact we now have a new Archbishop of Canterbury.

I am a Catholic and I did expect flippancy. It is of great interest to me and I wonder what the coming months will bring.

Lozzles I'm sure. I know a lot of my Catholic friends were shocked by the news. Is there any significance in the fact he's resigned rather than retired?

[Oojamaflip]

Tony Blair????

Naaaaaah I reckon Teflon Tone thinks he can walk on water, and therefore will be hanging out for higher office.............

[shazsha]

I'm a Roman Catholic and whilst surprised by the Pope's resignation ( the first in almost 600 years) I'm not particularly shocked or upset by it.
Another Pope will be elected and the church will carry on much as it has.

I don't really think this Pope has made much of an impact-perhaps his age and health were responsible for this.
John Paul, the second, was a very charismatic Pope-at least for us Catholics!- and was a hard act to follow.

I hope the new Pope is more forward looking and will look more at allowing birth control,etc., but I doubt it'll happen.

[debih]

I have to say I am neither shocked or bothered by the Pope resigning tbh.

I don't understand why they always have to have such an old pope - whoever they appoint always seems to be absolutely ancient!

[Oojamaflip]

Prophecy of the Popes

The Prophecy of the Popes, attributed to Saint Malachy, is a list of 112 short phrases in Latin. They purport to describe each of the Roman Catholic popes (along with a few anti-popes), beginning with Pope Celestine II (elected in 1143) and concluding with current pope Benedict XVI's successor, a pope described in the prophecy as "Peter the Roman", whose pontificate will end in the destruction of the city of Rome.

So I wonder if the next Pope will be Peter the Roman?