This pope has received widespread praise for having to courage to resign when his health prevented him from doing his job effectively.
Pope John II received widespread praise for having the courage not to resign even though his failing health prevented him from doing his job effectively.
Reminds me of the story:-
At a high-powered interfaith panel discussion each speaker took turns to explain some key ideas of their faith – Buddhist, Hindu and so on – and the response from other panel members was always along the lines of: “Wow, terrific, if that works for you that’s great.” The same response greeted the Catholic priest who talked of Christ and salvation, but instead of being pleased with their enthusiasm “he thumped the table and shouted: ‘No! It’s not a question of if it works for me! It’s the true word of the living God, and if you don’t believe it you’re all damned to hell!'”
“And they all said, ‘Wow, terrific, if that works for you that’s great.'”
Lol:-)
It seems to me that Pope Benedict is resigning so that he can control who is successor will be. If he died in office he would lose most of this power. By resigning he gives himself time to engage in the politicking at which he excels.
When the last conclave was held there was general amazement at how short it was and how quickly Benedict was elected. This was really no surprise as he had the result well sown up even before Pope John Paul died.
I’m afraid that many liberal Catholics are due to be disappointed when the new pope is elected.