He's only following the example of his illustrious predecessor, Benedict IX.

Olympic Trolling Judge: Quitter.

I find your lack of faith... disturbing.

As I said from the non-greenlit thread, who wants to take bets as to what scandal is about to erupt?  Because these days I don't believe something so huge and unexpected from the Church makes anyone think "oh it's really just his poor health."

Also, the last time the pope resigned was in 1415 to avoid a schism- here's the article on papal resgination on Wikipedia.

punishmentforshoplifting: Wait...can he do that?

Yup. Lot's of precedent, though all of it centuries old.

Smoking

gadian: Is there an old Pope's retirement home?

What kind of papal pension does he get?

James Franco was really into his role as Pope Benedict XVI.

Didn't someone point out a while back that they picked an old guy for pope in the first place so they had time to pick a better candidate for pope that would be around a while?

Mr.Tangent: Andromeda: As I said from the non-greenlit thread, who wants to take bets as to what scandal is about to erupt?

What could be worse than we already know?

Seeing as they didn't kick him out for what we already knew... it's going to be pretty bad.

Andromeda: As I said from the non-greenlit thread, who wants to take bets as to what scandal is about to erupt?

The awesome part is, even if there is no scandal the conspiracy types will invent one.

There is no way his next holiness could be more photoshop ready.

This is a sad day for all of us.

Andromeda: As I said from the non-greenlit thread, who wants to take bets as to what scandal is about to erupt?  Because these days I don't believe something so huge and unexpected from the Church makes anyone think "oh it's really just his poor health."

Also, the last time the pope resigned was in 1415 to avoid a schism- here's the article on papal resgination on Wikipedia.

This. I remember during the final years of the papacy of John Paul II, there were many calls for him to stand down due to ill health. At that time everybody in the Church dismissed the very idea, saying that Popes don't resign; only God decides when they are done.

So yeah, I rate this explanation one rung above "spending more time with his family".

punishmentforshoplifting: Wait...can he do that?

He can. Popes have resigned before, but the last one was back in the 1400s. Usually they just die in office. Either he';s starting to go senile (hence the wording "healthy in body and mind") and felt unable to lead the Church, there's a really damaging report coming out on his role in the sex abuse scandal (there is already strong circumstantial evidence that he helped cover up cases in Germany), or a combination of both. I wonder who the new pope will be.

BigBooper: beerbaron: He was always a temp-pope anyway. The choice for next pope will be revealing.

Yea, cause when they select an old conservative who wants to run the church like it was the middle ages it will be a big surprise.

Let's be fair. At his worst, Benedict XVI is nowhere as bad as his medieval predecessors were. Not even in the same order of magnitude.

I wonder if that means he can vote in conclave for the next pope, or be totally removed from the process.

I still consider myself Catholic, although I rarely go to mass these days. I don't think he's left much of a legacy. The next Pope is going to have to resolve the pedophilia scandals and hopefully reform the priesthood. I think it shows a lot of humility that Benedict accepts he's not up to the task anymore and is willing to step aside.

Holy shait.

Will he be returning to Naboo?

Hey!

I'm-a da Pope-a!