28 Feb 2013: Four years ago, Pope Benedict abdicated

It has been four years.  It seems longer.  I captured quite a few images from the live coverage HERE.

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12 Comments

  1. Plebs Sancta Dei says:

    If he was pressured by, say, the St. Gallen Mafia, would his abdication have been valid? I seem to recall a prophecy that stated the Pope would be a prisoner in the Vatican in the last times, though I don’t recall the source.

  2. rtjl says:

    It seems much longer.

    This has been a very long 4 years.

  3. Eugene says:

    4 horrible horrible horrible years and getting worse

  4. Poor Yorek says:

    Had an angel appeared at that moment and asked me “why I was standing there looking up at the sky?” I believe that I might have tried to strangle er, wrestle, with it.

  5. bibi1003 says:

    Has a previous pope ever spoken out against the heresies of a sitting pope? Is it possible? I keep wishing Pope Emeritus Benedict would. What could they do to him if he did? I’m going all conspiracy-theory here, but is it possible that the brave people who stand up to Pope Francis are putting their lives in danger?

  6. PTK_70 says:

    “Abdicate” seems such a strong and harsh word for the actual thing which the beloved pope emeritus did. Abdicate is what a monarch does, out of cowardice perhaps, or ineptitude. I’d rather say that Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus, relinquished the See of Peter. He probably could have held on for a few more years but then people might say he wasn’t in his right mind, being old. But relinquishing the papacy when he did, there was never any question about whether he took this historic step with anything other than a completely sound mind.

  7. Chris Garton-Zavesky says:

    “but is it possible that the brave people who stand up to Pope Francis are putting their lives in danger”

    You have forgotten that His Holiness has condemned the Mafia?
    You don’t entirely trust his condemnation of the Mafia?

  8. JennyU says:

    We were there in the square, waving goodbye to the chopper. It was surreal, like watching your father walk out the front door and knowing he wasn’t coming back.

  9. oledocfarmer says:

    In his photo ops over the past few years, Benedict XVI looks particularly spry….certainly not doddering and clearly not ill. His appearance alone belies the reasons proffered for his “relinquishment” and begs the question of what exactly motivated his decision.

    Yes, indeed, Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich prophesied a coming time of “two popes,” one (presumably the valid pope) somehow imprisoned, and the other (presumably invalid) reigning in the place of the valid pope.

  10. PTK_70 says:

    @oledocfarmer….How, at 85, are you supposed to be sure of the state of your mind and body when you’re 89…especially under the rigors of the papacy?

    A pox upon any attempt to malign the intentions or integrity of the beloved pope emeritus. What he did took tremendous courage.

  11. Jenson71 says:

    How is Pope Emeritus Benedict doing these days? Is he taking random American visitors? Can a person write to him? How so?

  12. PTK_70 says:

    @Jensen71…I would think you could send a note care of the “ufficio postale vaticano”, which might have a process for forwarding good will messages to the pope emeritus.

    I sort of wish they would find a way to have him make a discreet public appearance once a year in a low-key academic setting….

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