Thread: Pope stepping down

Originally Posted by donv

One more thing, what happens to his ring?? Will they take it and smash it??

BTW, has there been any new news on what's up with picking a successor?

I believe the cardinals are gathering as I type this, and that the goal is to have the new Pope in place before Easter. As for the ring, I believe it is to be taken to Mount Doom to be destroyed... (sorry, couldn't resist)

The ring is destroyed to prevent it being used to backdate papal decisions to a point prior to his death.
Given that he is still alive, there is no easy wa to pull that off but they'll destroy it nonetheless.

What I think he will do is retire and never be seen again until he is dead.
I am sure that he would be able to draw crowds and tour the world. But he wouldn't want to steal the limelight from his successor. The next pope will have a very tough job dealing with everything. The last thing he needs is for the old pope to be more popular than him.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet the chopper takes him to castle gandolfino (or gandolfo?) and he won't come out or into public view until they have to carry him out.

I can only hope the new pope will not be a reflection of the world as it is, but rather as it can be.
It's time that we stop looking forward to the Rapture and realize that we need make this world a place that we want to live in.

You just won!!
Off he goes...

I just saw a pic of him when he boarded the chopper. He looked relieved, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.



I also just read that he'll be staying in Gandolfo for 2 months, at which point he will retire to a monastry inside Vatican city. My bet still stands. He won't be seen again (barring a couple of long distance pics of him on route to the monastry) until he comes out horizontally.

It makes sense for him to lock himself away from the vatican for the coming months. He would want to avoid any impression of having anything to do with the conclave. No better way than to lock himself away from Vatican city.

My prayers go out to the people of the Catholic faith, I pray that you get the man you need.

Found a nifty little thing about the process on the Guardian website:

How to choose a pope: an interactive guide | World news | guardian.co.uk

Watch live: from the Vatican. The selection of the Pope:
Watch live!!

http://verbumconclave.s3.amazonaws.com/video.html

Black smoke rises from Vatican chapel, meaning no Pope elected in first ballot - @BBCBreaking, @NBCNews

Originally Posted by Johnus

Black smoke rises from Vatican chapel, meaning no Pope elected in first ballot - @BBCBreaking, @NBCNews

That would have been a 2000 year record.
Or as Catholic scholar Rik Torfs drily remarked: The shortest election ever was only 2 days. That was for Pope Julius. But even that doesn't count because he outright bribed the cardinals, and that method of election has fallen in disuse in recent years