Should the Pope Resign?

I didn't realize the vicar of christ had the option of resigning...I thought it was sort of like the mafia...only one way out....

Perhaps resign isn't the right term. There must be some mechanism in place for Popes that get senile, bedridden, etc., but live on for years.

At least one pope did, forget who he was at the moment. (St. Peter the hermit? well, that is just a wild stab.)

I am really too biased to make a polite comment on whether he should resign or not.





edit to say that Peter the Hermit did resign, but there may have been others.

No problem; he'll soon BE retired by nature. By the way everything he has done is within the framework of acceptable behavior. Nothing he has done is impeachable by Catholic standards. But I guess the reason for "retiring" him raised here (or for encouraging him to resign) is his level of competence due to Parkinson's.

Is there? I dunno.

ILZ, you're back, glad to see you.

Myself, I view this pope as from early on in his reign stocking the college of cardinals with multiple (not just multiple but major new numbers) new conservatives, thus obliterating for decades or perhaps centuries any chance of a more liberal pope being elected.

I have other questions re the demise of the pope before him, but I don't know enough, despite reading "In God's Name" to substantiate any doubt and am wary of conspiracy theories at the same time a few of them make good sense to me.. Let us say I rue his passing (was it John Paul I?)

Samewise.