Pope elevates 6 cardinals to choose successor

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI responded to criticism that the club of churchmen who will choose his successor is too Eurocentric, elevating six new cardinals from Colombia, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, the Philippines and the U.S. during a formal ceremony Saturday.

Benedict welcomed the prelates into the College of Cardinals during a short, hour-long ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica, telling them that their presence among the other red-robed prelates was a sign of the "unique, universal and all-inclusive identity" of the Catholic Church.

"In this consistory, I want to highlight in particular the fact that the church is the church of all peoples, and so she speaks in the various cultures of the different continents," he told the crowd.

The ceremony was both joyful and emotional: Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, seen by many to be a rising star in the church, visibly choked up as he knelt before Benedict to receive his three-pointed red hat, or biretta, and gold ring. He wiped tears from his eyes as he returned to his place.

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-elevates-6-cardinals-choose-successor-052355393.html

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini obituary

Reforming Roman Catholic cardinal who said the church was '200 years out of date' in an interview published after his death

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/03/cardinal-carlo-maria-martini

The Pope will die within a year:

Vatican 'assassination fears' revealed
The Pope will die within the next 12 months, a senior Vatican figure has reportedly claimed amid fears of an assassination plot.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/9073811/The-Pope-will-die-within-a-year-Vatican-assassination-fears-revealed.html

Pope Benedict XVI announces resignation – live reaction
is 1000/1 to be next Pope. More plausibly own own ArchB Vincent Nichols is 50/1
— Bryan Appleyard (@BryanAppleyard) February 11, 2013

3h 14m ago

The pope's spokesman Federico Lombardi is giving a press conference at the Vatican, which you can watch here, or below. It is in Italian.

Lombardi has said the pope's decision "took us by surprise" – indicating even Benedict's closest aides did not know what he was thinking of doing, Reuters reports. His decision left aides "incredulous", the spokesman said.

Benedict will remain "in full charge" of the Catholic church until 7pm GMT on 28 February.

His resignation is fully in compliance with church law, Lombardi has said, and Benedict took the decision freely.

He is not resigning because of any "difficulties in the papacy". Benedict does not fear a schism in the church after he resigns.

Upon resigning, he will go to the papal summer residence near Rome, and then will move to a cloistered residence in the Vatican.

Benedict will not take part in the conclave to elect his successor, Lombardi says.

He expects a new pope to be elected before the end of March.

3h 26m ago

Andrew Brown sends more on the resignation of Pope Gregory XII, the last pope to resign, in 1415.

At the turn of the 15th century the papacy was contested between popes, in Rome, and antipopes, in Avignon. The rival pontiffs anathematised and excommunicated one another. But these disputes were finally settled by the Council of Constance, 1414-18, which deposed two antipopes and accepted the resignation of Pope Gregory XII, to clear the decks for Martin V, a candidate who could be accepted by all sides.

Before then, the last real resignation of an undisputed pope from office was Clementine V, in 1294. He had not wanted election, but when he managed to resign, he was imprisoned in a monastery for the rest of his short life, lest he prove more popular than his successor.

Papal elections in the middle ages were a lot more fun than now. When Urban VI was elected in 1378, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Popes, "excited crowds demonstrated in the streets, and even invaded the Vatican, clamouring for 'a Roman, or at any rate an Italian' for pope ... Next morning, rioting broke out afresh, and at a panic-stricken session all but one [cardinal] cast their votes for Barolomeo Prignano, archbishop of Bari. Before his consent could be obtained, the mob burst in, but the terrified cardinals placated it by an injudicious piece of play-acting, pretending that an elderly Roman cardinal had been elected, and then dispersed. Next day, however, 12 returned and confirmed the election of Bartolomeo."

The Vatican following the pope's resignation on 11 February 2013. The Vatican following the pope's resignation this morning. Photograph: BBC News

Updated 2h 47m ago

3h 31m ago

This is Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, the favourite to replace Benedict.
Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana in 2005. Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana in 2005. Photograph: Max Rossi/Reuters

3h 34m ago

Cardinals over 80 do not have a vote in the election of the next pope, which means Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the former leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales, will not be involved. But the Catholic church is stressing that English and Welsh Catholics will still have input since cardinals talk to each other – and anyway the whole process is guided by the holy spirit.

Updated 3h 21m ago

3h 38m ago

When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was chosen to become Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, the Guardian judged him to be “the most conservative and internally perhaps the least divisive choice” the papal conclave could have reached, and wrote:

Here is an overwhelming sense of an opportunity missed. After the Polish Pope, there is no longer a sense that the Vatican belongs to an Italian. Now, when half of the Catholic church's members are in Latin America and a further 165 million are in Africa, it seems inappropriate for him even to be European. It may be too soon for Africa to produce a leader with the stature to command the whole church, but there were strong contenders from Latin America, men like Cardinal Hummes from Sao Paulo with a tradition of engagement with the labour movement of Brazil or Rodriguez Maradiaga, the young and able Cardinal from Honduras. Doctrinally conservative, but these are men who would have stood at the gates of the richest nations in the world as symbols of the poorest.

If the bookmakers are right and Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana is favourite, the era of an African pope may now have arrived.

Updated 3h 37m ago

3h 41m ago

Ladbrokes are just behind Paddy Power with their own list of contenders. Their top three is the same: Peter Turkson, Marc Oullet and Francis Arinze.

5/2 Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson

3/1 Cardinal Marc Ouellet

4/1 Cardinal Francis Arinze

6/1 Cardinal Angelo Scola

10/1 Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga

14/1 Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

14/1 Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco

16/1 Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

25/1 Cardinal Leonardo Sandri

25/1 Cardinal Claudio Hummes

25/1 Cardinal Wilfred Fox Napier

33/1 Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi

33/1 Archbishop Raymond Burke

33/1 Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera

33/1 Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi

33/1 Cardinal Timothy Dolan

33/1 Cardinal Camillo Ruini

33/1 Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn

33/1 Cardinal Ivan Dias

40/1 Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa

40/1 Cardinal William Levada

66/1 Cardinal George Pell

66/1 Monsignor Pietro Parolin

3h 44m ago

Bookmakers Paddy Power have drawn up a list of contenders to replace Benedict. According to them the favourite is Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana (9/4), with Cardinal Marc Ouellet next at 5/2 and Francis Arinze at 7/2. Here is their full list:

9/4 Cardinal Peter Turkson

5/2 Cardinal Marc Ouellet

7/2 Cardinal Francis Arinze

7/1 Archbishop Angelo Scola

10/1 Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga

12/1 Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

14/1 Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco

16/1 Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

20/1 Cardinal Leonardo Sandri

25/1 Cardinal Raymond Burke

25/1 Cardinal Cladio Hummes

25/1 Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi

25/1 Cardinal Christoph von Schonborn

33/1 Cardinal Wilfrid Napier

33/1 Cardinal William Levada

33/1 Cardinal Camillo Ruini

33/1 Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera

33/1 Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa

33/1 Cardinal Renato Martino

33/1 Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith

33/1 Archbishop Piero Marini

33/1 Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera

33/1 Cardinal Keith O’Brien

3h 46m ago

Our Rome correspondent Lizzy Davies notes that the resignation comes without any real prior warning or public speculation.

She says the papacy will be vacant after 28 February until a successor is chosen. Lizzy writes:

The pope announced his decision in Latin this morning during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, informing them of "a decision of great importance for the life of the church".

According to a statement released by the Vatican, Benedict, who is 85, said he was resigning due his age and declining strength.

Benedict, who became the 265th Pope in 2005, is known to suffer from arthritis, particularly in his knees, hips and ankles.

He had been due to travel to Brazil - the largest Catholic country in the world - in July for a youth festival, but concerns had been raised privately among Vatican observers about whether he would be strong enough.

Updated 3h 42m ago

3h 52m ago

This isn't the first time a pope has resigned, notes Alex Fenton-Thomas.

The best known example involved Pope Celestine V in 1294. After only five months as the Bishop of Rome, he issued a solemn decree declaring it possible that a pope can resign and then promptly did so. He then lived the rest of his days as a hermit and was later canonised.

His papal decree ended any debate over whether a pope can justify standing down during his lifetime.

Before Celestine, the only other two pontiffs to resign were the current Pope's namesake Benedict IX in 1045 and his successor Gregory VI the year after.

Gregory had schemed to get rid of Benedict, who had been beset by a succession of financial scandals. After persuading the disgraced incumbent to resign in 1045, and then becoming his successor as Gregory VI, he also resigned the following year after he was accused of benefiting financially from Benedict's demise.

The last time a pope resigned was Pope Gregory XII in 1415. He stood down to end the "Western Schism", which threatened to shatter Roman Catholicism. Two rival claimants had declared themselves pope in Avignon and Pisa and, with the help of the wily Italian politician Malatesta, Gregory's resignation helped unite the church at the Council of Constance in 1415.

Updated 3h 51m ago

4h 2m ago

These are the main reasons the pope gives for his resignation in his statement this morning:

• His "advanced age" (he is 85) means he is no longer able to carry out all his tasks adequately.

• Both strength in mind and body are necessary for the job of pope, he says, and in the last few months such strength has deteriorated in him.

He also announced in the statement that he would renounce the office of Bishop of Rome at 8pm on 28 February.

He says a conclave will have to be convened to elect the new pope.

And he says he wishes to continue to serve the church "through a life dedicated to prayer".

4h 8m ago
Post your questions on the pope's resignation below

The pope’s resignation is almost unprecedented. Let us know what you want to know in the comments below. How is the new pope chosen? Who is in the running? We’ll answer all your questions in this blog throughout the day.

Updated 4h 7m ago

4h 13m ago

The Vatican Radio website has the full text of the pope's statement today. Here it is in full:

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonisations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.

I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me.

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Updated 4h 13m ago

4h 15m ago

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII in 1415. My colleague Alex Fenton-Thomas is looking into that and will have more shortly.

4h 17m ago

The news seems to have come as a complete surprise to everyone. My colleague Sam Jones has just spoken to a spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales, who told him they were looking into reports to establish whether they were true. It seems they are.

4h 19m ago

Reuters, which broke the news of the pope's resignation this morning, is reporting that the pope has said in a statement that his strength is no longer adequate for him to continue in office due to his advanced age. He says he is resigning in "full freedom" and says he is "fully aware of the gravity of this gesture".

4h 27m ago

Pope Benedict XVI is to resign, the Vatican has confirmed.

Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger's papacy began in 2005. This is reportedly only the second time a head of the Catholic church has stepped down.

Sky News is reporting that the pope will leave office on 28 February.

We'll have all the details and reaction here live.

Updated 4h 13m ago

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/11/pope-resigns-live-reaction

Comment: We experienced a very strange phenomena having written and stated - we had wanted an all WWW French only and how WWW developed from Kilburn Brent those English entities and their utter lies after wards - the media.

Equally what we have written about Google Boss the number of time we have been involved in major scrap include in at EU level.

Our IP is monitored and those who hack in our system to watch and monitor everything we do inspite of the Phone hacking scandal and others it mean nothing to those animals.

This morning we stated handling certain issue about the Vatican and Pope Benedict resignation - those who know, were monitoring a Topic and suddenly Google became alive with load of prognosis of who they want to ./as next Pope just like the election of the next archbishop of Canterbury what took place and events - outcome - well Google and Yahoo - my person create you just like we created then WWW - with all your billions of $ and your millions of users just and see you will learn the lesson of your life and History.

We trust all the great experts, scientist policing authorities and intellectuals have not forgotten their basic training - " GARGAR" it stand for Garbage in and Garbage out. The above mess in our entry what and who caused it - we are not going got remove it come several days when all those get their head back if they have any at all - what others will say.


By the way those who think they are super clever in England - they think they have a fine long nose - they ought not to forget behind all the crap of John McEnroe of throwing his tennis racket at Wimbledon the empires and the public and all the tantrums it was our person.

Those under Lady Thacher government who labelled our person Rasputin -we must have been a very unique Rasputin who change the USSR and help them to find where the Communist had buried the Zar Family /Romanave of Russia.

Given what we have address about our Sechelles Seychelles greater archaic workings and Italian masonic and Opus Die - then change in the COMECON AND USSR what the British media took to writing because we are force to live in exile in Britain as against another country on the Continent and what they would have written those British media.

{( BY the way on this horrible Monday after all the carnaval in Sechelles Seychelles, tat IKEA table at the Friern Barnett Library and the Morocco)} Restaurant and the hashish pipe - our Friends at Occupy the People Library, the Seychellois and Mauritian community there this Monday. We can do with some support and solidarity.

This evening our Seychelles community in Hounslow st Vincent de Paul and St Micheal church - the English media about the Catholic community in Britain taken by surprise - we ask/request they think very hard, Including the young pastor at St Micheal church in Hounslow, the Polish church in Islington our Prayer with Priest only , the big Christmas tree and the tree Christmas tree and the St peter church the last time we a were in Islington. )}