The Pope's last mass? Already?

The Pope quits on---what?--the 12th of February, suddenly, announcing he'd be out a the end of the month, February, 2013--two weeks later, roughly. The first pope to do so in 600 years. 

Wow.

Then, he gives his last Catholic service, his last mass, on the 13th.

He still has two weeks to go to the end of his service.

Another wow.

I have to think he's either terminally ill with a very short time fuse on it or something fishy--terribly fishy--at the Vatican.

This is what bears watching:

Pope Benedict Resigned to Avoid Arrest, Seizure of Church Wealth by Easter

Supposedly, there may be an announcement tomorrow, Friday, February 15.

We shall see.

In the meantime, in the development of this whole story, there's this:

 

Pope's Resignation May Make International Prosecution Easier

 

As Alice said, it keeps getting curioser and curioser.

Link: Pope Celebrates Last Public Mass as Pontiff

Two breaking news stories on the Catholic Church this morning

In the first one, Priest calls for pope's resignation from CNN "the Rev. James Scahill called in a sermon last weekend for the pope to resign over the church's sexual abuse scandal."

Good for him. I doubt he'll be the last.

"'If he can't take the consequences of being truthful on this matter, his integrity should lead him, for the good of the church, to step down and to have the conclave of cardinals elect a pope with the understanding that the elected pope would be willing to take on this issue, not just in promise,' Scahill said."

"His church has received more than 100 emails and dozens of calls, of which only two were negative, Sister Betty Braughan said."

More:

"'The church took action after years of sexual abuse only because it had been exposed through the media,' Scahill said."

"Although he has received great support from his parishioners, he admits it has been hard to speak out against the church and the pope."

"'This has not been a healthy thing for me. It's a lot of stress, but I believe the truth needs to be spoken, and I believe the people want to hear the truth and [that] they are sick of the smoke and mirror approach.'"

Indeed, we are all--believers and unbelievers, both sick of the smoke and mirror approach.

Secondly, also from CNN, is this, too:

"Most Americans -- and most American Catholics -- think Pope Benedict XVI has done a bad job of dealing with the problem of sexual abuse by Catholics priests, according to a new national poll."

"CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey results released Friday also indicate that recent revelations about that matter have hurt the pope's standing with the public."

"Fifty-nine percent of American Catholics questioned in the poll have a favorable view of the pope, down 19 points from February. Among all Americans, the slippage is even greater: from 59 percent in February to just 35 percent today."

"According to the survey, 56 percent of U.S. Catholics disapprove of how Pope Benedict XVI has dealt with the problem of sexual abuse committed by priests; only about one in three Catholics has a positive view of how he has dealt with that subject. An even larger number -- 74 percent -- disapproves of how the church overall has handled that matter."

So it's bad and getting worse for the Pope. Unfortunately, it's not a big surprise. You can't shove something like all these cases of abuse under a figurative rug and expect they'll go away.

I don't think anyone can, as yet, predict quite how this will turn out and how far this will push Pope Benedict.

Side note to the Pope: Happy 83rd birthday. Enjoy.

Finally, a step in the right direction from the Vatican

This just out this morning:

"The Vatican responded Monday to allegations that it had concealed years of clerical sex abuse by making it clear for the first time that bishops and other high-ranking clerics should report such crimes to police if required by law."

Long overdue but we'll take it.

See? If pushed enough, we can make some progress.

Now we need to keep pushing, Catholics included.

Heartening Catholic news

It was great to see the article on the front page of the Star today, telling of our own, local National Catholic Reporter (NCR) newspaper and their work since the 1980's, for pity's sake, to get their church to "do the right thing" regarding the sexual and physical abuse scandals in their church.

That took guts, on their part.

All that time, being virtually the only group pointing out what was happening and what needed to be done, to address the scandals and put the church on the right path.

They're right, too, the rest of us are all "Johnny come lately's" at this, sure, but you know what? More and more groups, from within and without the Catholic Church need to speak up and call for accountability of the Catholic Church's leadership so the people abused can be addressed and so, hopefully, abuses like these in the past can never be repeated.

I say again--and it's stunning that no one in Rome, at the Vatican gets it--there need to be structures put in place within the church so these things don't happen again, once the past abuses have been addressed.


Kudos to the NCR and their work and diligence.

It's been the right thing to do all along.

Link to original story:
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/09/1868404/kc-based-national-catholic-reporter.html

Terrific question I just found for the Catholic Church--and the world

Why Are Pedophilia-Hiding, Child-Abusing Church Fathers Allowed to Write Laws About Women's Bodies?

To save my life, I can't answer that one.

It sure isn't due to good judgement.

Jon Stewart's not buying what the Vatican's selling--and neither am I

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Pope Opera
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Proof this pope stalled a molestation case

LOS ANGELES — "The future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a California priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including 'the good of the universal church,' according to a 1985 letter bearing his signature."

"The correspondence, obtained by The Associated Press, is the strongest challenge yet to the Vatican's insistence that Benedict played no role in blocking the removal of pedophile priests during his years as head of the Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog office."

"The letter, signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was typed in Latin and is part of years of correspondence between the Diocese of Oakland and the Vatican about the proposed defrocking of the Rev. Stephen Kiesle."

To the leaders of the Catholic Church:

Own up to your mistakes. You've apologized. Now, perform the investigations that are so badly needed and overdue. Find out--truly--who did what, where, when and to whom. If people need to be turned in to the police, do so.

Then, please, for the love of all that is good, create structures within your organization so this stops happening and it doesn't happen into the future.

Haven't you had enough?

To the lay people of the Catholic Church:

Require the above of your leaders. They owe it to you. They owe it to all of us.

Link to original story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/09/pope-benedict-stalled-chi_n_532073.html