ABUSE TRACKER

LATIN AMERICA
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS | Tue Feb 12, 2013

(Reuters) – With Pope Benedict’s stunning announcement that he will resign later this month, the time may be coming for the Roman Catholic Church to elect its first non-European leader and it could be a Latin American.

The region already represents 42 percent of the world’s 1.2 billion-strong Catholic population, the largest single block in the Church, compared to 25 percent in its European heartland.

After the Pole John Paul and German-born Benedict, the post once reserved for Italians is now open to all. The new pope will be the man that the cardinals who elect him at the next conclave think will guide the Church best.

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UNITED STATES
Sydney Morning Herald

Washington: Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that he will step aside this month means “he still has two weeks” to take action against child sex abuse by church staff, a US victims’ group says.

The Pope announced earlier that he will resign because of old age, becoming the first pontiff in more than six centuries to step down in a move that stunned the world.

“No matter how tired or weak Pope Benedict may be, he still has two weeks to use his vast power to protect youngsters. Before he steps down, we hope he will show true leadership and compassion and take tangible action to safeguard vulnerable children,” read a statement by SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“Imagine the shock waves – and the hope – that would be generated if, in his waning days, the pontiff demoted, disciplined, or defrocked even a handful of bishops who are concealing child sex crimes. And imagine the deterrent that would be to present and future cover-ups,” they stressed.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Paul Donovan, Special to CNN

February 11, 2013

Editor’s note: Paul Donovan is a lifelong Catholic and a commentator, writer and broadcaster who has contributed to The Guardian, Tablet, Universe, Irish Post and Independent Catholic News

(CNN) — The announcement of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI came as a bolt from the blue to the world but not a moment too soon for many Catholics.

The Catholic Church has continued to march backwards under Pope Benedict, seeming at times to be in a state of perpetual denial, whether the issue be that of child abuse, birth control, homosexuality or the role of women.

At the heart of the church there lies a deep chauvinism that seems to have infected the whole edifice.

Women may feel discriminated against in many institutions but few have made it so blatantly clear that the woman’s place remains at the kitchen sink as the Catholic Church.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

In picking successor, Vatican must decide what’s needed in a 21st-century pope

By Michelle Boorstein,

Monday, February 11

Now that Pope Benedict XVI has made (modern) history by stepping down from office, so begins one of the Western World’s oldest parlor games: Guessing who will be the next pope.

Close watchers of the Vatican say the 118 cardinals who will select Benedict’s successor are watching the media-savvy leader of the massive Milan archdiocese, Cardinal Angelo Scola; top Vatican administrator Marc Ouellet, of Canada, and Peter Turkson of Ghana. Also in the mix is jovial New York City Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who would make history, as a superpower pope has been frowned upon thus far.

The list is highly speculative. Unlike a presidential race, Vatican practice for centuries has barred public discussion about possible successors while a pope is alive, or anything that even whiffs of open campaigning. Since this pope is still alive, the voting cardinals are in unchartered waters and will likely meet in small groups to quietly brainstorm and discuss the possibilities until March, when their voting meeting, or conclave, will begin.

And when they vote, they will be doing more than picking a person; they’ll also be answering a question: What does it take to be a 21st-century pope?

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Eric Marrapodi CNN Belief Blog Editor

(CNN)–The questions reverberated from the Vatican to every corner of the Catholic world and left a billion members scratching their heads over something not seen since 1415 – why is the pope resigning now?

Pope Benedict XVI, 85, said Monday that it was because of his age.

“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,” he read in Latin to a group of cardinals gathered to examine causes for canonization.

The pressures may well have been too much for him to bear. As pope he was the bishop of Rome, the head of a tiny country, and spiritual shepherd to a billion people.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Eunice Lee/The Star-Ledger
on February 11, 2013

NEWARK — The stunning announcement of Pope Benedict’s resignation left Catholics in New Jersey with mixed reactions ranging from utter disbelief and sadness to optimism for the future of the church.

“I was shocked, literally,” said Miguel Martinez as he left Mass at St. Lucy’s in Newark and headed to work this morning.

Martinez, a 36-year-old Montclair resident, and a handful of others braved the rain and left mass at 8:30 a.m., just hours after the news broke. As one group left, more people quietly filtered into the subdued cathedral to celebrate mass.

“I was hoping he’d continue to lead the church for a very long time,” Martinez said.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Benedict XVI always cast himself as the reluctant pope, a shy bookworm who preferred solitary walks in the Alps to the public glare and the majesty of Vatican pageantry. But once in office, he never shied from charting the Catholic Church on the course he thought it needed — a determination reflected in his stunning announcement Monday that he would be the first pope to resign since 1415.

While taking the Vatican and world by surprise, Benedict had laid the groundwork for the decision years ago, saying popes have the obligation to resign if they can’t carry on. And to many, his decision was perfectly in keeping with a man who had dedicated his life to the church, showing his love for the institution and an acknowledgment that it needed new blood to confront the future.

The German theologian, whose mission was to reawaken Christianity in a secularized Europe, grew increasingly frail as he shouldered the monumental task of purging the Catholic world of a sex abuse scandal that festered under John Paul II and exploded during his reign into the church’s biggest crisis in decades, if not centuries.

More recently, he bore the painful burden of betrayal by one of his closest aides: Benedict’s own butler was convicted by a Vatican court of stealing the pontiff’s personal papers and giving them to a journalist, one of the gravest breaches of papal security in modern times.

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CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

By Lisa Van Dusen, Ottawa Citizen February 11, 2013

About 24 hours before Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world by announcing he’d retire from a job men have so rarely retired from, I’d been sitting in a pew in a church, whiffing pancakes from the basement and marvelling at just how badly the Catholic Church needs a re-brand.

Most Catholics, lapsed or not, have had plenty of occasion to ponder the same issue in the time since Pope Benedict was elected in 2005. On this occasion, I was listening to a clearly talented priest wax nostalgic about the days when nobody ate meat on Fridays and wondering why it is that scrambling to hold onto any filament of an already overtaken status quo is so often the last redoubt of organizations in crisis.

Pope Benedict had a tough act to follow in what are arguably the toughest days the church has faced in modern times. He made the papacy more accessible with his own Twitter account, reassured some and offended others with his public pronouncements and showed perhaps his most convincing concession to the demands of modernity in recognizing that these days, being pope is a younger man’s job.

In the eight years since Pope John Paul II died, there have been more abuse scandals; almost uniformly, avoidably ultrascandalous for their component of coverup. There has been much debate and as much pushback on the nagging questions of female priests and open homosexuality in the clergy as opposed to the shushed-up and tarnished kind, and there have been gagging scandals over the attempted silencing of dissident priests and uppity nuns who dare to want to change the church they love.

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VATICAN CITY
San Francisco Chronicle

By NICOLE WINFIELD and VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press

Updated 12:42 pm, Monday, February 11, 2013
VATICAN CITY (AP) — With a few words in Latin, Pope Benedict VXI did Monday what no pope has done in half a millennium, announcing his resignation and sending the already troubled Catholic Church scrambling to replace the leader of its 1 billion followers by Easter.

Not even his closest collaborators had advance word of the news, a bombshell that he dropped during a routine morning meeting of Vatican cardinals. And with no clear favorites to succeed him, another surprise likely awaits when the cardinals elect Benedict’s successor next month.

“Without doubt this is a historic moment,” said Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, a protege and former theology student of Benedict’s who is considered a papal contender. “Right now, 1.2 billion Catholics the world over are holding their breath.”

The move allows for a fast-track conclave to elect a new pope, since the traditional nine days of mourning that would follow a pope’s death doesn’t have to be observed. It also gives Benedict great sway over the choice of his successor. Though he will not himself vote, he has hand-picked the bulk of the College of Cardinals — the princes of the church who will elect his successor — to guarantee his conservative legacy and ensure an orthodox future for the church.

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LATIN AMERICA
Washington Post

Posted by Juan Forero and Nick Miroff on February 11, 2013

Across Latin America, the pope’s announcement that he will step down at the end of the month is drawing official comment as well as some speculation that the next pope could come from the region. Forty percent of all Catholics are in Latin America, and clergymen from Brazil, Mexico and Argentina are considered contenders for a church that is shrinking in Europe but growing in many developing countries.

The president of the Episcopal Conference of Bishops in Venezuela said the move served “as a good example” for having shown that it is best to resign in the face of hobbling incapacity. In public comments, Archbishop Diego Padron also said the pope had the interest of the church and its renovation in mind. “The pope doesn’t usually give out news in pieces,” Padron said.

It was not lost on Venezuelans that Padron’s message could have been as easily directed at President Hugo Chavez as to Venezuela’s Catholics. That’s because the ailing Chavez hasn’t been heard or seen by Venezuelans since undergoing a complicated cancer surgery in Cuba two months ago. Since then, the government has only released news on Chavez’s condition in dribs and drabs, delivering few hard facts about the president’s prognosis. That remains a state secret.

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VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

The Vatican’s cardinals were getting ready to leave a meeting to discuss three canonisations, chaired by Pope Benedict XVI, when he announced, in Latin, that he had one other bit of business to attend to.

By Gordon Rayner, and Nick Squires in Rome
8:46PM GMT 11 Feb 2013

From his throne-like chair on a purple dais in the Sala del Concistoro, part of the Apostolic Palace, he quietly told his “fratres carissimi”, or “dear brothers”, that he needed to “communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church”.

Having examined his conscience, he said, he had “come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry”.

His “mind and body” were failing him, and in consequence he had decided to “renounce the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter”.

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UNITED STATES
USA Today

Emma Beck, Eliza Collins and Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

Pope Benedict XVI’s efforts to address sexual abuse issues within the Catholic Church have drawn mixed reviews.

In 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, his name before he became pope in 2005, urged Pope John Paul II to create a central system to further the Vatican’s investigations of sexual abuse under priests. He shifted control of the disposition of the cases from the Congregation for the Clergy where little action had been taken, to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Ratzinger then headed.

And every week he examined the grueling cases coming, chiefly from the USA.

“He used to call that weekly meeting reviewing the cases that he used to call his penance,” said Greg Erlandson, co-author of Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal. Erlandson and church historian Matthew Bunson say in their book that Pope Benedict XVI “arguably was probably the most knowledgeable man on the abuse crisis.” …

“When forced to, he talks about the crimes but ignores the cover-ups, uses the past tense as if to suggest it’s not still happening,” said David Clohessy, the executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “He has vast powers and he’s done very little to make a difference.”

In the USA alone, the abuse scandal offers horrifying statistics. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection and independent studies commissioned by the bishops there have been:

— More than 6,100 accused priests since 1950.

— More than 16,000 victims identified to date although there is no national database.

— $2.5 billion in settlements and therapy bills for victims, attorneys fees and costs to care for priests pulled out of ministry from 2004 to 2011. …

His meetings with victims are viewed by some as “merely public relations. These gestures were cynical and, in a way, cruel, because they gave survivors and Catholics the illusion that he was a reformer,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org.

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UNITED STATES
SNAP Wisconsin

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

It is difficult today, with the announcement that Pope Benedict XVI is retiring this month, not to think of the many victim/survivors of sexual abuse from St. John’s School for the Deaf.

It was Benedict, as Cardinal Ratzinger in his previous post running the powerful Doctrine for the Congregation of the Faith CDF), who was in charge of the fate of the notorious Fr. Lawrence Murphy. Murphy, Ratzinger knew, had sexually assaulted at least 200 children at the boarding school in Milwaukee. Ratzinger ordered that Murphy be left in ministry, unpunished and unprosecuted, undetected to the public, and remain a priest, with all the rights, honors, and power which the church grants only to ordained clerics, right up until his death.

Benedict never once contacted, spoke to, or apologized to the deaf victims from St. John’s

Benedict’s fateful decision with Murphy at the time left children at risk in Wisconsin and also hundreds of deaf victims without a voice in their church. Is it little wonder, then, that Benedict leaves the Papacy without really addressing, fundamentally, the sex abuse crisis in the global church?

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UNITED STATES
SNAP Wisconsin

Benedict Resigns: removing all known child sex offenders from the priesthood, firing bishops who conspired in covered-ups, must be new Pope’s first act

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Pope Benedict, who announced today he will resign on February 28, will leave his tenure as Pope without having made the one, simple moral and executive decision that would have, in a single stroke of his pen, protected potentially millions of children from harm, brought justice to hundreds of thousands of victims, and finally turned the church on a path towards true recovery and reform: worldwide zero tolerance of child sex abuse by priests.

Because he never issued this decree, Benedict leaves office not only with countless children at risk around the world but scores of Cardinals and bishops in leadership positions who are actively covering up child sex abuse.

Amazingly, across the world today, although there was a modification in church law allowed by the Vatican for the United States, if you are a priest and have been found by your bishop to have raped or sexually assaulted a child, you can remain in the priesthood and in ministry, your crimes left secret and unpunished.

No other profession working with children in civil society today formally allows for this bizarre possibility under their occupational rules. Tragically, this makes the priesthood, in some ways, the most dangerous such occupation for children across the globe. Tragic and unnecessary, since obviously the vast majority of priests never harm a child and serve and support the children in their ministry admirably.

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UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall

The German Pope’s resignation today as the Bishop of Rome (for health reasons) is the final lie in his Papacy. Since 2005, Benedict XVI’s church has been the subject of more civil and criminal inquiries of the Church since the time of the Protestant Reformation.

Just look at the sheer volume of child abuse and financial abuse inquires during Benedict XVI’s reign. The real story is how these worldwide child abuse inquires brought on the first resignation of a healthy Pope in eight centuries.

Click on the links to read the full reports.

Germany

German Bishops Halt Child Abuse Inquiry

Australia

Australian Prime Minister Julian Gillard announces National Inquiry of child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church

Belgium

Report on wide spread child abuse in Belgian Church

Bishop Roger Vanghuewe resigns after child abuse accusations

Mexico

Reverend Marcial Maciel, Founder of the Legionaries of Christ, was removed in 19 after first being removed as head of the Order for sexually abusing children in the 1950′s

United States

Los Angeles – Cardinal Roger Mahony’s 1985-2011 coverup of 128 priest perpetrators is revealed and Benedict XVI remains silent

Milwaukee – In the midst of planning for Bankruptcy and moving assets to shield them from child sex abuse survivors, Archbishop Dolan pays for the perpetrators silence. Pope Benedict XVI rewards Dolan and promotes him to Cardinal

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on February 11, 2013

No matter how tired or weak Pope Benedict may be, he still has two weeks to use his vast power to protect youngsters. Before he steps down, we hope he will show true leadership and compassion and take tangible action to safeguard vulnerable children.

(Imagine the shock waves – and the hope – that would be generated if, in his waning days, the pontiff demoted, disciplined, or defrocked even a handful of bishops who are concealing child sex crimes. And imagine the deterrent that would be to present and future cover ups.)

It’s reckless to assume the next pope will handle abuse and cover ups better. Vigilance, not complacency, protects kids. The next pope must be judged by his actual track record, not by our naïve assumptions.

Pope Benedict followed the same script church officials have used for years, speaking of abuse in oblique terms and only when forced to do so, ignoring the cover ups, using past tense (as if to pretend clergy sex crimes and cover ups are not still happening now). Instead of taking sweeping, proactive steps to deter wrongdoing, he offered only belated verbal apologies and ineffective symbolic gestures.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Minnesota Catholics said Monday they were shocked by Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement.

Rev. John Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, said in a statement that “like Catholics across the world, I was completely surprised.”

“At the same time, I am saddened by the thought of losing his strong leadership for the church,” the statement continued. “When my fellow Bishops and I met with him last March, his pastoral reflections about each of our dioceses–and this local Church in particular–were insightful as well as inspirational. …

Bob Schwiderski, director of the Minnesota chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said that Benedict “didn’t finish the job.”

“There are still thousands of survivors who have not been responded to pastorally,” he said. Schwiderski had hoped when Benedict was elected that he might “do the right thing,” he said, “And he didn’t do it.”

Schwiderski said that Benedict’s legacy will be stained by the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church. “As far as I’m concerned, they can give him the title ‘the enabler,'” he said. “The protector of the perps.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WFMJ

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Church officials say four U.S. cardinals with Pennsylvania roots and ties will be eligible to vote for the next pope.

Bishop David Zubik says that Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl was born in Pittsburgh and is a former bishop of that city.

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo and Cardinal Sean O’Malley also grew up in Pittsburgh. Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, the retired archbishop of Philadelphia, will also be eligible to vote for a new pope.

Zubik, the current bishop of Pittsburgh, spoke Monday after Pope Bendict XVI announced his resignation.

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UNITED STATES
CT Post

BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press
Updated 12:24 pm, Monday, February 11, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington says the next pope will need “a certain level of energy” to travel around the world and be physically present to tend to the faithful.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl said at a news conference Monday that he was shocked by Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign. But he said it was a sign of the pope’s humility and love for the church that he concluded he was no longer able to perform his duties.

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UNITED STATES
San Bernardino Sun

So the pope only has to give 2 1/2 weeks’ notice? Who knew?

It’s a big job being the spiritual leader of more than a billion people. You might expect the pope to give more advance notice of his resignation, but Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday morning he would step down Feb. 28.

There’s not much precedent to go by. A pope hasn’t resigned in nearly six centuries, and the last to do so was more or less forced out to end the Western Schism in 1415.

For Benedict, 85, the first German pope in a millennium, the issue is his deteriorating physical condition. He said Monday he no longer has the “strength of mind and body” to carry out his duties.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By FRANK BRUNI

To understand just how surprising Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to surrender his post is, you can look to numbers. It has been nearly six centuries since a pope resigned.

Or you can just flash back to the final years of Benedict’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II, whose different approach to his physical decline casts Benedict’s course in an interesting and possibly noble light.

John Paul, too, aged rapidly before our eyes. He, too, had nowhere near the energy for his job that he had once possessed. But he pressed on, a stooped, unsteady, crippled figure barely able to get through some of the Masses he celebrated. It was a spectacle so unsettling in instances—he was so severely compromised, and seemed so pained—that it verged on ghoulish.

I know because I watched it up close. From mid-2002 to mid-2004, I covered the Vatican for The Times and traveled wherever the pope did. There were a small number of us reporters in Rome who tried as best possible never to let John Paul too far out of our sights, and for one reason above all others: we were on a death watch. There’s no more delicate way to put it.

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UNITED STATES
Mediaite

by Tommy Christopher | 11:14 am, February 11th, 2013

The news of Pope Benedict XVI‘s resignation from the papacy, the first such resignation since the year 1415, has led to, and will surely lead to more, whitewashing of the former Joseph Ratzinger‘s role in enabling priests to molest children. On Monday morning’s Morning Joe, however, host Joe Scarborough added insult as he sat mute while Father Edward Beck credited the retiring pontiff, “despite some media reports,” with “aggressive” handling of what he called the “sex abuse scandal,” while ignoring the fact that Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy includes being the first pope to be personally implicated in enabling a priest to continue molesting children.

The Pope’s resignation comes as a surprise, and has been greeted, by the media, with credulous repetition of Benedict’s “advanced age” as the reason for his sudden, once-in-600-years resignation, and tentative mentions of “questions” regarding his role in the Catholic Church’s child sexual assault scandals. As Pope, Benedict has made a show of reforming the Church’s handling of such crimes, and even apologized to U.S. survivors of these crimes. It is for this that Father Beck thinks this pope will be remembered.

“I think his legacy would be, for many, moving to a more traditional Catholicism,” Father Beck told the Morning Joe crew, then added that. “Despite some media reports, many see his dealing with the sex abuse scandal, even when he was cardinal, before becoming pope, as more aggressive than those previous to him. So to kind of get that ship in order again, in the wake of the sex abuse scandal, could be part of his legacy.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
London Evening Standard

11 February 2013

Ross Lydall

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was 78 and looking forward to retirement when John Paul II died in 2005 and he found himself next in line to become Pope, despite praying that he be spared the post.

He had been John Paul’s Vatican “fixer” for 24 years, earning himself the nickname “God’s rottweiler” for heading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — once called the Holy Office of the Inquisition.

He was the oldest Pope to take office since Clement XII in 1730 and was renowned as a hardline conservative with views that were to land him in repeated controversy throughout his eight years. Born in Bavaria in 1927, he was the eighth German to become Pope.

But his appointment was overshadowed by the revelation he was a member of the Hitler Youth, though he said this was required of all young Germans at the time. During the Second World War he was drafted into an anti-aircraft unit in Munich.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

By Aine Fox
Published on Monday 11 February 2013

THE mood in Rome following the shock resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is one of complete surprise, a Northern Ireland-born priest there said.

Fr Aidan McGrath, from Banbridge, said that, although the news was totally unexpected, he saw it as a positive thing that retirement is still an option within the church.

The 58-year-old, who works in canon law and is Secretary General of the Order of Friars Minor in Rome, checked the Internet on Monday morning after someone said there was a rumour circulating that the Pope – who was elected in 2005 – was to retire.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Fall River

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests weighs in on Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign

By Deborah Allard
Herald News Staff Reporter

Posted Feb 11, 2013

FALL RIVER —
An international survivor’s network for those abused by priests is asking Pope Benedict XVI to use his “vast power” in his remaining two weeks to take tangible action to safeguard vulnerable children.

The pope announced he will resign on Feb. 28 due to advanced age and declining strength.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said Pope Benedict unfortunately “followed the same script church officials have used for years,” speaking only of church sexual abuse when “forced to do so,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director for SNAP.

The group on more than one occasion has organized protests in Fall River, the most recent last summer, and has asked for cooperation from Bishop of the Fall River Diocese George W. Coleman.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

BY Angelo Young | February 11 2013

For the first time in 719 years the head of the Catholic Church is resigning. The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Benedict XVI, 85, will step down on Feb. 28.

The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became the 265th pope in April 2005, carrying on the legacy of his predecessor Pope John Paul II to defend traditional doctrine against what was viewed by many Catholics, especially conservatives, as controversial and too liberal interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, a conference of the Cardinals that modernized the church in the early 1960s. …

As a cardinal, Ratzinger convinced Pope John Paul II to centralize the church’s own internal investigations surrounding sexual abuse by priests under the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctine of the Faith, which oversees church doctrine. While he claimed the move would allow the church to address the abuse issue more efficiently, it was viewed by many – especially those outside the church — as a kind of Vatican-administered cover-up operation moving priests around rather than treating them as sexual predators and assisting law enforcement in prosecuting their crimes.

In 1999, Ratzinger was persuaded to back off a high-profile sex abuse case involving a priest in Mexico by the name of Marcial Marcial Degollado, accused of sexually abusing two boys, and had relations with two women with whom he fathered six children. Degollado was later honored by Pope John Paul II, after which new abuse accusations emerged. After Ratzinger become pope he had Dellogado removed on the basis of “very serious and objectively immoral acts.”

Lawsuits and accusations of massive cover-ups of accused sexual criminals followed Ratzinger when he became pope. Critics say as cardinal, the pope was at the center of a policy of covering up sex abuse cases and keeping allegations secret rather than assisting law enforcement in prosecuting these criminals and pursuing justice for sex crime survivors.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Heise

Florian Rötzer 11.02.2013

Und konservative Intellektuelle wie Norbert Bolz sehen in der Männerkirche ein subversives Potential

Der katholischen Kirche geht es nicht gut. Während in Köln der Karneval auf seinen Höhepunkt zustrebt, beklagt der Kölner Kardinal Joachim Meisner einen Sturm gegen die Kirche: “In den vergangenen Wochen hat die Kirche in Köln in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung einen Sturm erlebt, wie ich ihn in meinen Jahren als Bischof selten erlebt habe.” Der Kardinal diagnostizierte in einem Brief an die Seelsorger eine “Katholikenphobie”, nachdem zwei katholische Krankenhäuser eine vergewaltigte Frau abgewiesen hatten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Die Aussagen führender Katholiken über angebliche Angriffe auf ihre Religion sorgen für Unmut. CDU und FDP halten Begriffe wir “Katholikenphobie” und “Pogromstimmung” für übertrieben.

Die Klagen von Bischöfen über eine katholikenfeindliche Stimmung in Deutschland sorgen weiter für Kritik. Unionsfraktionschef Volker Kauder (CDU) sagte, es sei übertrieben, über eine “Katholikenphobie” und eine “Pogromstimmung” zu sprechen, wie es die Erzbischöfe Joachim Meisner und Gehard Ludwig Müller getan hatten.

Der Sprecher der Christen in der FDP-Bundestagsfraktion, Patrick Meinhardt, bezeichnete die Äußerungen der Geistlichen als “Unsinn” und warf ihnen vor, die “rhetorische Keule” herausgeholt zu haben.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 11, 2013

Today’s announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will resign later this month has become a swirling vortex of media conjecture and speculation. Is it because of growing scandals in the United States and Ireland? Is it because the Pope is directly tied to the cover-up of child sexual abuse in the US and elsewhere?

I doubt it.

Yes, there are growing scandals – scandals that show that the cover-up of child sexual abuse goes all the way to the highest levels of the Vatican. Cardinal (in good standing) Roger Mahony, who covered up for dozens of priest predators in Los Angeles, has yet to receive any public rebuke from Rome. It is doubtful that he ever will. Even the slap on the wrist he received from LA Archbishop Jose Gomez has been minimized. Mahony will be able to vote for the new Pope and—in prime “Prince of the Church” fashion—will parade around Rome with this fellow cardinals next month.

But I believe that Benedict’s “resignation for health reasons” is probably the truth. Rumors have been swirling for years that the Pontiff has Alzheimers, and video from recent public appearances show a man in the ravages of declining health. And more videos like that will keep coming.

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National Catholic Reporter

by Dennis Sadowski,Catholic News Service | Feb. 11, 2013

Washington —
Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that he planned to resign Feb. 28 stunned and shocked religious leaders around the world.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, said he was “shocked and saddened” to hear of the pope’s decision Monday.

“I know that his decision will have been considered most carefully and that it has come after much prayer and reflection,” O’Brien said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Thomas Reese | Feb. 11, 2013

Analysis
Yes, a pope can resign — up to 10 popes in history may have resigned, but historical evidence is limited. Most recently, during the Council of Constance in the 15th century, Pope Gregory XII resigned to bring about the end of the Western Schism and a new pope was elected in 1417. Pope Celestine V’s resignation in 1294 is the most famous because Dante placed him in hell for it.

Most modern popes have felt resignation is unacceptable. As Paul VI said, paternity cannot be resigned. In addition, Paul feared setting a precedent that would encourage factions in the church to pressure future popes to resign for reasons other than health. Nevertheless, the code of canon law in 1917 provided for the resignation of a pope as do the regulations established by Paul VI in 1975 and John Paul II in 1996. However, a resignation induced through fear or fraud would be invalid. In addition, canonists argue that a person resigning from an office must be of sound mind (Canon 187).

In 1989 and in 1994, John Paul II secretly prepared letters offering the College of Cardinals his resignation in case of an incurable disease or other condition that would prevent him from fulfilling his ministry, according to Msgr. Sławomir Oder, postulator of the late pope’s cause.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 11, 2013

Rome —
John Paul II used to be known as the pope of surprises, forever doing things Roman pontiffs simply hadn’t done before. With the election of Benedict XVI, many believed the era of papal novelties had drawn to a close, since Benedict has always been a man of tradition and the main lines of his papacy were fairly predictable from the theological and cultural concerns he had expressed over a long public life.

In the end, however, Benedict XVI proved to be capable of a true stunner, becoming the first pope to voluntarily resign his office in centuries and the first to do in the modern media-saturated age. Acknowledging what he called his “incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me,” Benedict has announced he will step down effective 8 p.m. Rome time Feb. 28.

Immediately, Benedict’s decision has both won wide praise as a responsible and humble act and raised a whole rafter of questions. Chief among them: What exactly will be the role of a retired pope? And, naturally, many have already begun to speculate about who might capture the two-thirds support in the College of Cardinals necessary to take over the church’s top job.

Benedict’s decision also means the debate over his legacy is now officially open, and as with all things, it’s likely to draw widely different verdicts depending on who’s performing the evaluation.

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MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on February 10, 2013

Imagine the outcry if a police chief disclosed that that she lets corrupt, trigger-happy cops stay on the job but allegedly keeps them away from cash and firearms? Or if a fire department head revealed that he let pyromaniac firefighters stay on the job but allegedly keeps them away from matches and gasoline?

People would go nuts over this kind of crazy behavior. So why aren’t people in Clinton Mississippi going nuts over two officials there who kept a credibly accused youth minister and teacher, John Langworthy, on the job but allegedly away from kids?

Morrison Heights Baptist Church pastor Greg Belser in Clinton Mississippi decided Langworthy could stay on staff after hearing about Langworthy’s alleged abuse of kids in Texas. Belser emailed one of Langworthy’s victims, saying “I want to assure you that (Langworthy) has no contact here with children. He continues to lead our youth choirs, but there are so many eyes on him right now, he is no risk to anyone.”

That’s no misprint. A pastor actually wrote that a twice accused youth minister “has no contact here with children” but “continues to lead our youth choirs.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) – The conclave to elect the successor of Benedict XVI will be regulated by the “Ordo Rituum Conclavis” established by John Paul II’s apostolic constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis”, para. 27. The Cardinal Camerlengo, who has a fundamental role during the Sede Vacante period, is Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, appointed by Benedict XVI on 4 April 2007.

The Cardinal electors, by their continents of provenance, will be 61 Europeans, 19 Latin Americans, 14 North Americans, 11 Africans, 11 Asians, and 1 from Oceania. These figures may vary depending on the date that the conclave opens: for example, Cardinal Walter Kasper will turn 80 on 5 March. The country with the greatest number of Cardinal electors is Italy, with 21. Sixty-seven of the electors were created by Benedict XVI and the remaining 50 by John Paul II.

One of John Paul II’s innovations regarding the period of conclave is that the Cardinal electors―of whom there will be 117 on 28 February―will be housed in the Vatican residence Casa Santa Marta, which is independent from the place where they vote, the Sistine Chapel.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 11 February 2013 (VIS) – It will soon be eight years since 19 April 2013, the day that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, was elected as Supreme Pontiff, the 264th successor of Peter, and chose the name Benedict XVI.

The cardinal proto-deacon, Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, made the solemn announcement to the people at 6:43pm from the external loggia of the Hall of Blessings of the Vatican Basilica following the white smoke which occurred at 5:50pm.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) – Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, commented there and on Vatican Radio on Benedict XVI’s resignation of the papacy. “Among the reasons for the Pope’s resignation, as he noted in his own words,” he said, “are the circumstances of today’s world that, in relation to the past, are particularly difficult, both because of the speed as well as the number of events and problems that arise that, therefore, need a vigour, perhaps stronger than in the past. It is a vigour that the Pope says he has felt diminish in him in recent months.”

He continued, “The phrase: ‘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,’ is very significant This is the formal declaration, which is important from a juridical point of view. In paragrapgh 2 of canon 332 of the Code of Canon Law, we read: ‘Should it happen that the Roman Pontiff resigns from his office, it is required for validity that the resignation be freely made and properly manifested, but it is not necessary that it be accepted by anyone.’ The two fundamental points are, therefore, freedom and due manifestation. Freedom and public manifestation, and the consistory in which the Pope manifested his will is public.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) – Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, on hearing the news of the Pope’s resignation from the Petrine ministry, expressed his nearness, and that of all the cardinals, to Benedict XVI.

“We have heard you,” he said, “with a sense of loss and almost disbelief. In your words we see the great affection that you have always had for God’s Holy Church, for this Church that you have loved so much. Now, let me say, on behalf of this apostolic cenacle―the College of Cardinals―on behalf of your beloved collaborators, allow me to say that we are closer than ever to you, as we have been during these almost eight luminous years of your pontificate. On 19 April 2005, if I remember correctly, at the end of the conclave I asked … ‘Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?’ And you did not hesitate, although moved with emotion, to answer that you accepted, trusting in the Lord’s grace and the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church. Like Mary on that day she gave her ‘yes’, and your luminous pontificate began, following in the wake of continuity, in that continuity with your 265 predecessors in the Chair of Peter, over two thousand years of history from the Apostle Peter, the humble Galilean fisherman, to the great popes of the last century from St. Pius X to Blessed John Paul II.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) – The Holy Father, at the end of today’s consistory for causes for canonization, announced his resignation from ministry as Bishop of Rome to the College of Cardinals. Following is the Holy Father’s complete declaration, which he read in Latin:

“I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, 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 barque 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 recognize 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.”

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Feb 11, 2013

Yes, there have been papal resignations before, and the possibility of one has been anticipated in recent years. But the last time a pope actually did it was 77 years before Columbus fetched up in the New World, and that was to permit the resolution of a schism in which three men claimed the See of Peter.

That the Roman Catholic Church is in as serious a crisis now as it was in 1415 is a nice question. The last third of the 20th century saw a remarkable enhancement in the prestige of the papacy, thanks to the charismatic leadership of John XXIII and John Paul II, respectively bringing the church into the modern world and presiding over the collapse of the Soviet empire.

But the last decade has seen that prestige squandered by the rolling abuse crisis. Following the Church’s lurches from crisis to crisis, its over-the-top denunciations of civil authorities and contemporary mores, it is hard to resist the conclusion that here is an institution suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Curiously, this is the third time in history that a Benedict has resigned the papacy. The last time it was Benedict IX, a dissolute scion of the Roman nobility whose departure from office in 1049 led the way to the great reforming papacy of the later 11th century. Among its principal reforms was bringing the hammer down on bishops who had bought their offices (simony) and kept wives (Nicolaitism).

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VATICAN CITY
9 News (Australia)

Catholic faithful in St Peter’s Square have reacted with amazement and emotion at Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that he will resign later this month, though some say they hope his successor will be more progressive.

Hundreds of believers converged on the heart of the Catholic church after hearing the historic news, swelling the usual small huddles of tourists on an overcast and chilly winter day in Rome.

“I love Benedict. We’re really shocked he’s resigning because he wasn’t pope for long enough,” said Sebastian Mazur, a seminarian from Poland.

“He hasn’t finished his plan,” the 21-year-old said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vision Insights and New Horizons

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Pope Benedict said in a historic announcement he no longer had the mental and physical strength to run the Roman Catholic Church and would become the first pontiff in more than 700 years to resign, leaving his inner circle “incredulous”.

Church officials tried to relay a climate of calm confidence in the running of a 2,000-year-old institution but the decision could lead to one of the most uncertain and unstable periods in centuries for a Church besieged by scandal and defections.

The Church has been rocked during Benedict’s nearly eight-year papacy by child sexual abuse crises and Muslim anger after the pope compared Islam to violence. Jews were upset over rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier and there was scandal over the leaking of the pope’s private papers by his personal butler.

In the announcement read to cardinals in Latin, the German-born pope, 85, said: “Well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of St Peter …

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

One of the significant stories about the second Vatican Council conspicuously ignored by many contemporary “traditionalists” was the way in which it rehabilitated theologians who had previously been silenced by the leaders of the Catholic church. Some of the leading lights of European Catholic theology in the period prior to Vatican II–these included Karl Rahner, Yves Congar, Marie-Dominique Chenu, and Henri de Lubac among others–were at various points prior to the council forbidden to write about a number of topics. Only to find themselves rehabilitated by the council and, in the case of most of the preceding theologians, invited to the council as theological periti or experts, whose theology laid the foundation for the council . . . .

This history is in my mind today as I think about Benedict’s resignation, and as I note how frequently people (Catholics and non-Catholics alike) commenting on Benedict’s resignation are referring to the abuse crisis in the Catholic church. Whether the abuse crisis is directly responsible for Benedict’s choice to resign the office of the papacy, it looms large in the background of that choice, and has to have been a huge weight on Benedict’s shoulders throughout his papacy.

As I think about this, it strikes me that, at this point in the history of the Catholic church, survivors of childhood abuse by priests are playing a role similar to the role played at Vatican II by theologians who were condemned and marginalized prior to the second Vatican Council. These theologians were treated as enemies of the church, only to be recognized at a later point as prophetic thinkers whose theology was absolutely indispensable to the fruitful engagement between Catholic ideas and values and the modern world.

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VATICAN CITY
PolicyMic

Chris Miles

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that he will resign on February 28.

The first resignation of a Pope in 600 years will no doubt have reverberations across the Catholic Church, and speculation of who will be his successor is already surging. A frontrunner for the highest Catholic position, though, may be someone in the Vatican’s own backyard.

Global Vatican watchers have tipped Milan Cardinal Angelo Scola as favorite to succeed Benedict.

I guess yet another Italian pope is just what the Catholic Church needs.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 11, 2013

NEW CUMBERLAND, Pennsylvania — Roman Catholics in Pennsylvania are speculating about who will succeed Pope Benedict XVI, and some say they’d like to see a younger person as their spiritual leader.

At St. Theresa’s Church in New Cumberland, near Harrisburg, parish manager Elaine Herald said Monday that Benedict’s retirement could open the door for a younger, progressive pope, perhaps a black person, who will lead efforts to rebuild membership.

She says the church needs to change relatively minor rules that are driving members away.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
WTRF

CLEVELAND (AP) – A lay leader in Cleveland says Pope Benedict XVI will be held in high regard by members of churches ordered reopened by the Vatican under his watch.

Miklos (MEEK’-lohs) Peller of St. Emeric Church in Cleveland says the pope didn’t take a direct role in reopening the churches, but Peller believes Benedict influenced the decision.

St. Emeric was 1 of 11 closed churches ordered reopened by the Vatican, which also overturned the merger of a 12th congregation.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Benedict XVI had to resign. The public objections of Cardinals Meisner and Mahony, the political rejections in the USA, the Philippines, Ireland, Australia and in other countries, the priests’ revolts in Austria, Ireland, the USA and elsewhere, the bank regulators steady pressure on the Vatican Bank, and who knows what will soon be revealed, all made it clear that the Vatican clique’s power was diminishing rapidly.

But the Pope has only been an ornament on a hierarchical structure that remains. Unless and until that Catholic Church’s structure returns to the pre-Constantinian consensual style that Jesus and his first disciples left behind, a new Pope will likely just continue business as usual. For that reason, President Obama must act now to signal to the worldwide Cardinals that business as usual is unacceptable and that the Catholic Church leadership structure must return to a consensual and accountable basis.

As a retired Harvard trained international lawyer and lifelong practicing Catholic and a grandparent, I am convinced the obscene sexual violations against children by priests will unacceptably continue, no matter who is Pope, unless and until the U.S. Federal government steps up. No one else has as much clout to stand up to the power of the Vatican. Local prosecutors have failed for decades to prosecute bishops for enabling predatory priests to attack more children.

Many from different faiths and no faith all across the USA, and even worldwide, including some of those harmed by the abuse of the deaf victims in Milwaukee, have already signed my petition calling on President Obama to step up. They have indicated they have had enough with the domination of local prosecutors and legislators by the Catholic hierarchy and its well paid apologists and lawyers. More signatures, including yours, will help accelerate the establishment of the U.S. national investigation commission, especially important now when the Vatican may be at a turning point.

We all have a moral obligation to protect children and signing a petition is a simple, yet potentially effective, way towards meeting that obligation. Please take a minute and sign it at:

[Click here for the petition.]

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CANADA
National Post

Josh Visser | Feb 11, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI’s shock resignation could open the door for the Church’s first non-European leader, with a Canadian and an Argentinean considered among the leading candidates to become the next pope.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, formally the archbishop of Quebec City, has the best odds of replacing Pope Benedict XVI according to an Irish betting site, at 11 to 4.

Cardinal Ouellet, 68, is the head of the Congregation for Bishops, essentially the Vatican’s top staff director. He was once quoted saying being the pope “would be a nightmare.”

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VATICAN CITY
Omaha.com

The Associated Press

The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Benedict XVI is stepping down on Feb. 28. While such papal resignations are extremely rare, there are precedents in the two millennia history of the Catholic Church.

Marcellinus

This early church pope abdicated or was deposed in 304 after complying with the Roman emperor’s order to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods.

Benedict IX

Sold the papacy to his godfather Gregory VI and resigned in 1045.

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WHEELING (WV)
Seattle PI

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia says Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign shows his love and devotion for the church.

Bishop Michael J. Bransfield said Monday that the pope is being realistic about his physical limitations. Bransfield says he admires Benedict for his courage and humility.

The 85-year-old Benedict announced Monday that he is stepping down Feb. 28. He said he lacks the strength to fulfill his duties.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
San Antonio Express-News

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The head of New Hampshire’s Roman Catholic diocese is giving thanks to Pope Benedict XVI for his service to the church as the pope prepares to resign.

Bishop Peter Libasci (lih-BAH-she) said Pope Benedict’s announcement shows how the church is a never-ending continuum. He said the pope has taught how the Church is rooted in over 2,000 years of history and how deep traditions continue to guide us forward.

The 85-year-old pope announced Monday that he lacks the strength to fulfill his duties and will resign Feb. 28, becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to do so.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Review

Submitted on February 11, 2013

The following is the statement of the Archdiocese of St. Louis regarding Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation:

The people of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis and Catholics around the world learned today that our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation effective February 28, 2013, because of advanced age and declining health. He made this surprise announcement to the Cardinals in Rome earlier this morning.

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MASSACHUSETTS
San Antonio Express-News

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Catholics are expressing support for Pope Benedict XVI, who made the surprise decision to become the first pope in almost 600 years to resign.

Bishop Robert Deeley, the vicar general of the Boston Archdiocese, said Monday he gave thanks for Benedict’s “faithful leadership” in his eight years as pope.

Deeley worked directly with the pope in Rome before taking his assignment in Boston.

Deeley said “I know of his deep and abiding love for the Church and for fulfilling the saving ministry of Jesus.”

Ray Flynn, the former Boston mayor and U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, called Benedict a “pious and caring priest.” Flynn called the resignation an “act of sacrifice” to make way for a more “energized” leader.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 11, 2013

We’re worried that New York’s Cardinal Tim Dolan is being discussed as a ‘long shot’ papal candidate.

We urge New York citizens and Catholics to look hard at Dolan’s disappointing track record in abuse and cover up cases over the past few years, detailed in this media statement here.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

By David Hurley
Published on Monday 11 February 2013

THE announcement of Pope Benedict XVI’s imminent resignation has come as a surprise to the rector of the redemptorists in Limerick Fr Adrian Egan.

The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI will resign on February 28. He is the first pontiff to resign since 1415.

Speaking this morning, Fr Adrian Egan said he was shocked when he heard the news.

“I’m very very surprised and taken aback. I had no sense that this was coming or that it would be coming because it is very unprecidented so I’m like everybody else, I’m taken aback and I’m very surprised,” he told Live 95FM.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue offers seven good reasons why the pope’s legacy is secure:
◦Religion for Pope Benedict XVI is as much a public issue as it is a private one. In 2008, he warned American bishops against “the subtle influence of secularism,” holding that “any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted.”
◦The pope made it clear that religious freedom was not only a God-given right, it was “the path to peace.”
◦He knew religion could be abused, leading even to violence. His much misunderstood 2006 Regensburg University lecture was really about the uncoupling of religion from reason (reason not united to faith also leads to violence).

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RHODE ISLAND
San Antonio Exress-News

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence says he is stunned by the news that Pope Benedict XVI will resign on Feb. 28.

Bishop Thomas Tobin on Monday says he believes the 85-year-old pope’s decision is an act of humility that puts the needs of the church above the pontiff’s own.

Benedict’s announcement means he will become the first pontiff in 600 years to resign. The Vatican stressed that no specific medical condition prompted Benedict’s decision, although he says he lacks the strength to fulfill his duties.

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VATICAN CITY
Financial Times

By Lina Saigol

The decision by Pope Benedict XVI to resign sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March. The Financial Times provides a guide to the possible candidates.

Cardinal Angelo Scola, Italy

The 71-year-old son of a truck driver is widely considered a likely successor. His appointment as Archbishop of Milan – Italy’s largest diocese – in 2011 was seen as an endorsement by Pope Benedict. A noted scholar, he has tried to find ways to avoid a “clash of civilisations” by developing a forum for dialogue and encounter between the West and Islam.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Italy

The President of the Pontifical Council for Culture has teased priests for their dull sermons and encourages them to use social media. A master communicator, the Italian-born scholar may face opposition to the post because he has never held a diocesan post.

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, Honduras

If elected, Cardinal Maradiaga would become the first Pope from Latin America which is home to half the world’s 1bn Roman Catholics. Born into an upper-class family in Honduras, the charismatic, left-leaning intellectual speaks five languages, plays the piano and flies light aircraft and helicopters. A critic of capitalism and a staunch defender of the poor.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
WHIO

In response to the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop of Cincinnati Dennis Schnurr said his work will be remembered as humble and unselfish.

“I will always remember Pope Benedict as he described himself on the day of his election as pope in 2005 – ‘a simple, humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord.’ When I was in Rome during the period that he was a prominent cardinal, I frequently would see him in St. Peter’s Square, mingling with the crowds in the simple black cassock of a priest. Often he was asked by groups of tourists, undoubtedly assuming that he was one of the local priests, to take their picture. This he would do willingly and with a generous smile,” Schnurr said in a statement release today.

“In announcing his resignation, Pope Benedict XVI has acted humbly and unselfishly for the good of the Church. That same spirit has characterized his entire life of service.”

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VATICAN CITY
USA Today

by Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

If you want to picture the next pope, look back, look ahead, and brace for surprises.

The cardinals who will elect the new pontiff were all chosen by the past two and tasked with finding a pope who can speak to the future.

And no one can tell for sure if the man they pick will be the pope they get.

When 118 electors – all the Cardinals under age 80 – are locked in to the Sistine Chapel, they may pray the Holy Spirit guides them to a man who brings an eternal, orthodox vision of the faith. Just like globe-trotting rock star Pope John Paul II. Just like scholarly theologian Pope Benedict XVI.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Joseph Ratzinger leaves the papacy having failed to achieve what should have been his job one: to rectify the incalculable harm done to the hundreds of thousands of children sexually abused by Catholic priests. He leaves hundreds of culpable bishops in power and a culture of secrecy intact.

Benedict’s apologies to victims were frequent. When he traveled to the US in April 2008, he promised that the Church would do “whatever possible to help, to assist, to heal” victims. In February 2010, meeting with Irish bishops, he called child sexual abuse “heinous.” In his letter to the Irish people in 2010, he expressed “shame and remorse.”

Benedict’s words rang hollow. He spoke as a shocked bystander, as if he had just stumbled upon the abuse crisis. But more than anyone in the Vatican, he knew about the damage done to innocent children. As archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Ratzinger had allowed the transfer of accused priest Rev. Peter Hullermann, and certainly managed many other abuse cases as well. Since 1981, when he was named head of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith (CDF), he had been at the center of the Vatican’s abuse bureaucracy, reviewing many files and, unfortunately, implementing Pope John Paul II’s policy of not laicizing abusive priests. In Spring 2001, the Pope gave Cardinal Ratzinger and the CDF sole responsibility for abuse cases, and in that role, Cardinal Ratzinger read hundreds of files and became the Vatican’s most knowledgeable and powerful person on this issue.

The tragedy is that as Pope he could have enacted true reform. He could have forced the immediate resignation of bishops who had enabled sexual predators. He could have decreed that every bishop post on his website the names, assignment histories, and allegations of accused priests. He could have made the CDF transparent in its handling of cases, instead of the black box that it remains to this day. He could have acted on the Vatican’s vast knowledge of these cases, instead of leaving the work to the survivors, investigative reporters, grand juries in the US, and government commissions in Ireland and Australia.

Instead of remedies, he gave us words. Instead of true penitence, he gave us public relations. His failure to enact real change in the Church’s handling of sexually abusive priests will be his significant and shameful legacy.

About BishopAccountability.org

Launched in 2003 by lay Catholics in Boston, BishopAccountability.org is a comprehensive archive and data center focused on the worldwide sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church. It has compiled an online database of 3,800 publicly accused US priests. Its online library contains more than 100,000 pages of church records, legal documents, and media reports. Its mission is to give the public one-stop access to information about the crisis throughout the world. An independent non-profit, BishopAccountability.org is not a victim’s group, does not advocate specific church reforms, and is not affiliated with any advocacy or religious group.

Contact:

Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, barrett.doyle@comcast.net, 781-439-5208
Terence McKiernan, Founder and President, mckiernan1@comcast.net, 508-479-9304

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VATICAN CITY
Seattle Times

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY —
Benedict XVI always cast himself as the reluctant pope, a shy bookworm who preferred solitary walks in the Alps to the public glare and the majesty of Vatican pageantry. And on Monday, the Vatican announced that the leader of the world’s billion Roman Catholics was stepping down – the first pontiff to do so since 1415.

The German theologian, whose mission was to reawaken Christianity in a secularized Europe, grew increasingly frail as he shouldered the monumental task of purging the Catholic world of a sex abuse scandal that festered under John Paul II and exploded during his reign into the church’s biggest crisis in decades, if not centuries.

More recently, he bore the painful burden of betrayal by one of his closest aides: Benedict’s own butler was convicted by a Vatican court of stealing the pontiff’s personal papers and giving them to a journalist, one of the gravest breaches of papal security in modern times.

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IRELAND
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

A group representing victims of child abuse in Catholic-run institutions in Ireland on Monday welcomed the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI after “he promised a lot but delivered nothing”.

“This pope had a great opportunity to finally address the decades of abuse in the church but at the end of the day he did nothing but promise everything and in the end he ultimately delivered nothing,” John Kelly, of the Survivors of Child Abuse support group, told AFP.

Ireland has been stunned by a series of revealing reports in recent years that lifted the lid on decades of child abuse suffered at the hands of religious members that stretches back to the foundation of the state in 1922.

“We asked the pope for sanctions against the religious orders who committed the abuse and the religious leaders in Ireland who allowed this to happen but to our dismay nothing has happened,” Kelly added.

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NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Bryan Fitzgerald

Updated 9:54 am, Monday, February 11, 2013

ALBANY — Bishop Howard Hubbard said Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign because of failing health, was done out of “dedication to the Gospel.”

In a statement, Hubbard, leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, said:

“The announcement came as a surprise to me. But as I thought more about it, I remembered that Pope Benedict had said before that if, in conscience, he ever reached the point where his health would compromise his responsibilities, he would step down.”

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RHODE ISLAND
WPRI

By Shaun Towne
Field Reporting By Nicole Estaphan

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Pope Benedict XVI shocked Catholics around the world Monday when announced his decision to become the first head of the church to resign in almost 600 years.

With nearly 60 percent of Rhode Islanders being Roman Catholic, many local parishioners were outspoken about the announcement.

“I’m shocked, I’m really shocked, and I’m saddened to hear that news,” said St. Brendan’s Parishioner Elaine Layton.

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CANADA
CBC News

Three Canadian cardinals will be part of the conclave to elect a new Pope, and one is considered a leading contender to take over after Benedict XVI steps down Feb. 28.

The selection of a Canadian as pontiff would be unprecedented. A non-European cardinal has never been chosen to lead the church.

The Canadians involved in the decision-making process are Cardinal Thomas Collins from Toronto, and Cardinals Jean-Claude Turcotte and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, both from Quebec.

In a rare move, Pope Benedict XVI announced his intention to resign on Feb. 28, citing his deteriorating strength and health. The last pontiff to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

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UNITED STATES
TV Newser

By Chris Ariens on February 11, 2013

The news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation caught even his closest aides off guard leaving the world media scrambling to confirm the news. The Pope announced in a meeting of Vatican Cardinals today, “After having repeatedly examining 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.” The pope will resign Feb. 28.

CNN went with the news at 6am as “Early Start” went on the air. John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin reported the news confirming with CNN sources in Vatican City. HLN’s Robin Meade reported the news at 6:01 as did “Fox & Friends,” citing “a wire service.”

MSNBC was hesitant to report the news at first but then at 6:04 Joe Scarborough reported the Reuters flash: “We weren’t sure whether we were going to go with [this] or not because Reuters has gotten some information wrong before on the pope. Mika, why don’t you confirm.”

“Pope Benedict is going to be stepping down as head of the Catholic church,” said Brzezinski.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY | Mon Feb 11, 2013

(Reuters) – – Pope Benedict was cheered by conservatives for trying to reaffirm traditional Catholic identity but liberals accused him of turning back the clock on reforms and hurting dialogue with Muslims, Jews and other Christians.

The 85-year-old German-born pontiff announced on Monday he would step down at the end of the month because of the effects of old age meant he was unable to complete his ministry. It was a decision that stunned Church officials and Catholics around the world, but one that he had hinted at in the past.

Benedict enjoyed relatively good health most of his life but the first sign that he was slowing down came in October 2011, when he began using a wheeled platform to move up the main aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica.

In a book in 2010, he said he would not hesitate to become the first pontiff to resign willingly in more than 700 years if he felt himself no longer able, “physically, psychologically and spiritually” to run the Catholic Church.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Eagle-Tribune

The Most Reverend Robert Deeley, Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Boston said, “We have received the Holy Father’s announcement that, having prayerfully discerned that due to physical limitations he is no longer able to fulfill the responsibilities of his office, he will resign effective February 28th.

At this time we give thanks to God for the gift of Pope Benedict XVI’s faithful leadership of the Roman Catholic Church during the past 8 years of his papacy. We assure the Holy Father of our prayers and fidelity during these final weeks of his service as the Vicar of Christ.

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VATICAN CITY
The Wrap

[with video]

Pope Benedict XVI stunned the world Monday with his announcement that he will step down after eight years, becoming the first pope to resign in six centuries.

Benedict, 85, cited his age and health as the reason for his resignation. His time as pope has also been marked by fallout from the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal.

The pope will fulfill his duties through the end of the month, and a successor could be named by Easter, the Vatican said.

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VATICAN CITY
Deutsche Welle

The pope’s announcement that he will resign his post has come to many Catholics as a surprise. But his resignation gives the Church the chance for a new beginning during a time of crisis, says DW’s Bernd Riegert.

It’s a revolution. A pope hasn’t resigned in more than 500 years. Officially, the nearly 86-year-old Benedict XVI said that he was stepping down due to his deteriorating health. But in his Latin-language announcement, he said that the Church was difficult to lead during an era of rapid change, in a world “shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith.”

The pope was no man of the people like his Polish predecessor, but instead was a brilliant theologian and intellectual, who always had difficulties with his office. During his 2011 trip to his German homeland, he gave the impression that he was detached. At the time, many people criticized the pope for being out of touch with the concerns of normal Catholics.

His resignation now officially opens the possibility for a Catholic leader who is more open to reform and can find answers to the Church’s crisis in Europe and North America. In Germany, the Church is losing more and more members, and there aren’t enough priests being trained to lead the next generation.

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VATICAN CITY
Deutsche Welle

Although most popes remain in office until their death, the regulations that govern the Catholic Church allow for a pope to step down from his duties. He need not ask permission: It is his decision entirely.

There have been very few papal resignations in the history of the Catholic Church. The last to do so was Pope Gregory XII, in 1415 as part of a deal to end the Great Western Schism in which two rivals had separately declared themselves pope. The dispute had threatened to tear the church apart.

Perhaps better known is the resignation of Celestine V in 1294, who had only been in the position for less than six months. The then 89-year-old Celestine had paved the way for himself to step down by issuing a decree that made it possible for a pope to resign.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 10, 2013

A predatory Columbus Catholic priest, who once spent a year in prison, has passed away. Fr. Thomas L. McLaughlin died on Feb. 6th.

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered from McLaughlis crimes to “come forward, expose wrongdoers, get help and start healing.”

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say they “hope McLaughlin’s passing will bring some measure of comfort and closure to those he hurt.”

“At least now it’s certain he’ll never be able to harm another child,” said, Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director.

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VATICAN CITY
Metro

There’s no shortage of worthy candidates to become the leader of the Catholic Church worldwide and Canada’s Cardinal Marc Ouellet is the one of the early front-runners.

The 68-year-old former Archbishop of Quebec is as short as 3/1 with Ladbrokes and 6/1 with Sky Bet to be appointed by his fellow cardinals.

It’s a global church and the belief the Pope has to be Italian is long, long gone. Ouellet has worked impressively in his current role of vetting and selecting bishops and he could shape the Church for generations to come.

One of his main rivals could be Cardinal Peter Turkson, 64, from Ghana. His appointment would be a huge shift in direction for the Church. He is extremely popular in the College of Cardinals and could be seen as a powerful leader, especially in Africa, and he is a best price if just 4/1 with Stan James.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

February 11, 2013

By Ann Rodgers / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The announcement by Pope Benedict XVI that he would step down Feb. 28 came as a surprise to many. Even people with insider connections at the Vatican were blindsided by the news.

Nothing was posted on Catholic news media sites. The Rev. Louis Vallone, a pastor in McKees Rocks who is a close friend of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, had spoken to him last week when the cardinal was in Rome and heard no hint of any major impending change.

“It caught everybody off guard,” said Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh, who heard it from the TV news on his way to early morning Mass at St. Paul’s seminary in Pittsburgh’s East Carnegie neighborhood. “There is a certain sadness I feel because of his resignation. I do admire him. I admire the teaching that he shared so much with the church. I think he wouldn’t come to a decision that was as important as this one without a considerable amount of prayer. He wants only the very best for the church and would submit his resignation based on his love for the church.”

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UNITED STATES
El Paso Inc.

Associated Press

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan says he was as startled as the rest of the world about Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that he will resign later this month due to failing health.

Dolan says he feels a special bond with the pope because he was the one that appointed him archbishop of New York.

Dolan, speaking on the “Today” show Monday, says he wears the ring and the cross the pope gave him.

The pope announced Monday that he would resign Feb. 28 because he’s simply too infirm to carry on.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 10, 2013

I read The Dallas Morning News series about abuse and cover up at Parkland Hospital at a bad time: while I was sitting in a hospital. (My 93 year old father-in-law is struggling.) It’s a very disturbing but very important series. I encourage you to read it.

Many of dynamics are tragically familiar – officials ignoring warning signs, acting secretively, blocking efforts to expose wrongdoing, attacking the messengers, griping about allegedly unfair media coverage. ones.

In this whole sordid and depressing mess, I think there are two tiny silver linings.

The first is that despite financial setbacks and uncertainties, the long-standing and admirable tradition of thorough investigations of corruption by diligent journalists at daily newspapers remain intact. This is especially true at the Dallas Morning News, where reporters Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin did ground-breaking reporting on the Catholic church crisis over the past decade.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on February 11, 2013

The College of Cardinals will now look to its membership for a new leader, someone who can lead the Church into a new era. We hope that they look for a man among them who will protect the most vulnerable among the faithful: innocent children and reach out to the most hurt among the faithful: victims of clergy sexual abuse.

For the Church to truly embody the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ, it must be led by a pontiff who demands transparency, exposes child-molesting clerics, punishes wrongdoers and enablers, cooperates with law enforcement, and makes true amends to those who were hurt so greatly by Catholic priests, employees and volunteers.

The era of cover-up and secrecy in the Catholic Church must end. Our greatest hope is that the newest Pope agrees and becomes a true leader in the spirit and teaching of the Gospels.

Victims of child sexual abuse agree on one thing: they want to ensure that what happened to them never happens to another child. The only way for that to happen is for the Cardinals to select a Pontiff who puts child safety and victim healing first, as the teachings of Jesus Christ dictate.

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UNITED STATES
Christian News Wire

Contact: Andrew T. Walther, Vice President, Communications and Media, Knights of Columbus, 203-752-4253, 203-824-5412 cell

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 11, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ — The following statement of Supreme Knight Carl Anderson on the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI is released by the Knights of Columbus:

In these remaining days of his papacy, our thoughts and prayers are with Pope Benedict XVI, who has worked so hard in leading the Church, and has always been such a good friend to the Knights of Columbus. We wish him all the best in his retirement. In addition, we pray for all those cardinals who will take part in the conclave, and for his successor, that God may inspire them as they carry out the mission with which they are entrusted.

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

Catholics in New York were stunned by Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement Monday that he would be stepping down as pope later this month.

“That’s terrible to hear,” said Manhattan resident Dave Stacker outside Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.

Stacker noted that he had been excited the pope was just starting to branch out into social media and more modern forms of communication with his followers.

The 85-year-old pope announced his decision to abdicate his position on Feb. 28 during a meeting of Vatican cardinals Monday morning.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By Tom Moseley Posted: 11/02/2013

Bookmakers think the next Pope could come from Africa, following the resignation of Benedict XVI.

Up to 120 cardinals from all over the world will vote on who will succeed 85-year-old Benedict, who is standing down for health reasons.

Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze and Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana are the front-runners with William Hill and Ladbrokes respectively.

Arinze, seen as a staunch conservative on issues like birth control, was a hot favourite for the post last time around and is the 2/1 favourite with William Hill.

Turkson, the 5/2 favourite with Ladbrokes, is president of the Vatican’s council for justice and peace and has also been linked with the top job. Last year he was embroiled in a row over an ‘anti-Muslim’ video.

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UNITED STATES
Baptists Today

Pope Benedict XVI announced today that he plans to step down at the end of the month — the first pope in 600 years to resign voluntarily rather than clinging to power and dying in office.

Benedict has not been my favorite pope: his strict orthodoxy and less-than-tolerant approach to others dialed back years of progressive movement in the Catholic church, and his failure to quickly ride herd on priestly pedophilia was a great disappointment.

I’m not Catholic, so I really have no skin in the game, but I affirm the 85-year-old Benedict’s decision to resign rather than stay in a job long after he’s physically capable of doing it well. Those who elected him — at age 78 — should have known he would not be able to serve effectively for long.

What Benedict did well (from his perspective) was to appoint so many conservative cardinals, including a disproportionate number of Europeans, that his conservative legacy is almost certain to live on in the next pope, and that orthodox stamp is likely to be his most lasting contribution.

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VATICAN CITY
Gay Star News

11 February 2013 | By Joe Morgan

The top three candidates for Pope are all vehemently anti-LGBT, with one defending African laws punishing gay people with death.

Pope Benedict XVI resigned earlier today (11 February), with the 85-year-old citing ill health and his advancing age.

Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, has said many of the laws imposed on gay people in Africa are an ‘exaggeration.’

Last year, the National Catholic Register reported the Cardinal saying it is important people understand the ‘reasons’ why some African governments have created legislation against homosexuality.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

An Australian victim’s group has welcomed Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign, saying he has done little “to stop the reign of terror of child rapist priests”.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Australia said victims hope he is replaced with a more co-operative pontiff.

“Victims welcome the resignation of a church official with immense power who has done so little to stop the reign of terror of child rapist priests and other religious,” Nicky Davis of SNAP Australia said in a statement.

“In the eyes of many victims, Joseph Ratzinger has personally done much to add to the huge number of victims and exponentially increase the suffering of those already harmed.

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VATICAN CITY
PolicyMic

Michael McCutcheon

Cardinal Peter Turkson is one of the names being floated as a possible successor to Pope Benedict XVI as the next head of the Catholic Church. He would be the first black Pope in the history of the Church and is Ghanaian-born.

It would be a historic moment. The Church is continuing to grow quickly in Africa and choosing a non-European would speak volumes about the Church’s plans for growth and be a nod to its emerging members.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Martin Baccardax

February 11, 2013

If a week is a long time in politics, eight years is an epoch in the modern Papacy

The shock resignation – the first in more than six hundred years – of the eighty-five year old Pope Benedict XVI comes at the end of an eight year rule of the Holy See that has seen the foundations of the Catholic Church shaken as never before.

A man most defined by his strict adherence to the oldest and most challenged portions of Church doctrine was always going to struggle to unite a global faith that was already reeling from what His Holiness himself had called the “cloud of filth” of a decades-long sexual abuse scandal that rose to the very feet of the Vatican’s cosseted leadership.

In fact, the allegations involved the man himself, who, as Joseph Ratzinger, severed as the Archbishop of Munich and Freising in the late 70s and early 80s and was said to have personally approved the transfer of a priest accused of molestation to his diocese in order to receive treatment and therapy.

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VATICAN CITY
New Jersey Herald

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) – Benedict XVI always cast himself as the reluctant pope, a shy bookworm who preferred solitary walks in the Alps to the public glare and the majesty of Vatican pageantry. And on Monday, the Vatican announced that the leader of the world’s billion Roman Catholics was stepping down – the first pontiff to do so since 1415.

The German theologian, whose mission was to reawaken Christianity in a secularized Europe, grew increasingly frail as he shouldered the monumental task of purging the Catholic world of a sex abuse scandal that festered under John Paul II and exploded during his reign into the church’s biggest crisis in decades, if not centuries.

More recently, he bore the painful burden of betrayal by 1 of his closest aides: Benedict’s own butler was convicted by a Vatican court of stealing the pontiff’s personal papers and giving them to a journalist, 1 of the gravest breaches of papal security in modern times.

All the while, Benedict pursued his single-minded vision to rekindle faith in a world which, he frequently lamented, seemed to think it could do without God.

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VATICAN CITY
KKOB

(NEW YORK) — A new pope is elected by the College of Cardinals in Rome, who gather under Michelangelo’s famous frescoes in the Sistine Chapel under strict security measures. Only cardinals under the age of 80 can vote, which means 118 members are eligible to vote for Pope Benedict XVI’s successor.

This process is called a conclave and it will take place at the end of March to elect a new pope in place of Benedict, who announced on Monday that he is stepping down.

The cardinals are totally cut off from the outside world during conclave, as television, phones, newspapers and computers are all banned. They are housed in private rooms in the Santa Maria house until a new pope is elected.

Aside from the cardinals, about 70 other people are allowed in the Santa Maria house such as doctors, cooks and housekeepers.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Monday, February 11, 2013

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny will hear demands for a state apology when he meets survivors of the Magdalene Laundries on Monday.

The Fine Gael leader will receive the survivors at a meeting in government buildings on Monday afternoon.

The Irish PM has been criticised for failing to accept the state’s blame in the Magdalene Laundry scandal after the publication of a government report last week.

Now the survivors will make their demand personally at the Dublin meeting according to the Irish Times.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Michael Sean Winters | Feb. 11, 2013 Distinctly Catholic

Last night, of course, I anticipated writing an update about the U.S. bishops’ response to the HHS mandate revisions. And, in search of information about Cardinal Consalvi, the greatest Secretary of State in the history of the Holy See, I was reminded about the circumstances of the election of Pope Pius VII. His predecessor, Pius VI, had died in August 1799, a prisoner of Napoleon. The City of Rome had been proclaimed a Republic, forcing the conclave to meet in Venice under the protection of the Austrian emperor. The conclave began its deliberation on November 30, 1799 and, given the high stakes, political and ecclesiastical, the cardinals deadlocked. It was not until March 14 that Chiaramonti was elected the new Pope.

The news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation may lead the Church to the most interesting conclave since that conclave of 1799-1800. There will not be the political pressures from the crowned heads of Europe as existed then – after the 1903 conclave that elected Pope Pius X, the right of certain monarchs to veto a candidate was brought to an end. But, the ecclesiastical situation is sure to be just as contentious as many prior conclaves and, given the virtually unprecedented quality of Pope Benedict’s decision to resign, those tensions will include some new dynamics.

What are the key dynamics, both immediate and long-term? The most obvious is that the decision to resign may be the most modernizing decision Pope Benedict has taken. (Quick question: Who is the person most upset with the decision? Queen Elizabeth II. You can bet that she took a call from Prince Charles this morning asking if she was watching the tele!) In a single moment, the Pope has removed some of the aura of the papacy, the idea that it was a vocation rather than a ministry, something that cannot be abandoned without somehow affronting the Holy Spirit. Today, the Pope indicated that the Petrine ministry is a ministry, a very specific ministry to be sure, but more of a job than a vow.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

Tim Stanley

Dr Tim Stanley is a historian of the United States. His biography of Pat Buchanan is out now. His personal website is www.timothystanley.co.uk and you can follow him on Twitter @timothy_stanley.

Are we headed towards an apocalypse? First an asteroid comes close to the Earth, then the British start eating horse and now … the Pope resigns. Resigning is something that Popes very rarely do. That last time it was done voluntarily was by Celestine V in 1294; Gregory XII stepped down under political pressure in 1415. By contrast, John Paul II remained in his position regardless of his declining health – a testament to the man’s extraordinary will power.

How wonderful it is to be part of a church that has a memory stretching back centuries. Alas, its prophesies don’t reach much further in to the future. According to Saint Malachy’s Prophecy of the Popes (published in 1595), Benedict is the penultimate Pope before the End of Times begin. The Prophecy has actually been eerily accurate in predicting the identity of each Pope in turn, which is why it makes for such troubling reading today. After Benedict will come Peter of Rome, under whose watch “the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the terrible judge will judge his people.” Given the terms of current EU equality law, the Prophecy might well be undone by the forced election of Cherie Blair. But if it does come true, if Peter is elected and Armageddon is upon us, I’m really going to have to get my house in order before the judgement begins. I’m clearing my internet history as I type…

I converted to Catholicism not long after Benedict took over, so he’s always been “my” Pope. And I’ve been lucky. He’s an uncommonly intelligent man who has embodied what’s best about post-Vatican II Catholicism. Contrary to his divisive image encouraged by some in the media (who understand Catholicism as well as they do Aramaic) he put reunifying the Church at the heart of his pontificate. That meant reaching out to the Eastern Orthodox and permitting a revival of traditional liturgy for homegrown conservatives. The latter has led to a revolution in the English Church. Back in 2005, to request a traditional Mass (Latin, pre-60s liturgy and absolutely no tambourines) was akin to requesting a sausage sandwich at a Green Party Vegan fundraiser. Traditionalists were treated like embarrassing relics and it’s not an exaggeration to write that some were persecuted for their beliefs. But Benedict brought a new reading of Vatican II that stressed living tradition and encouraging greater reverence and beauty in the Mass. That might mean more people receiving communion on the tongue or a more semantically precise liturgy, but the greatest innovation was to free traditionalists to explore the Old Rite. He was our Gorbachev.

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UNITED STATES
U.S. Catholic

By Bryan Cones

I say that in all seriousness, and not because Pope Benedict XVI has not been my favorite pope of all time.

Pope Benedict’s resignation tells me that he knows his role, both his role as bishop of Rome, and his role as successor to Pope John Paul II. Joseph Ratzinger was elected as a short-term caretaker pope, and eight years (or nearly eight) is a sufficient amount of time to let the aura of Pope John Paul II’s too-long papacy dissipate. But I also think Ratzinger knows his limits and what the church needs in a way that Wojtyla did not. While I think Pope John Paul II saw himself as personally called by God to live out the end of his papacy as he did, Benedict, on the other hand, leans into the job with the mind of a professor: The work he set for himself to do is done; now it is time for someone else. And he has had the courage to admit it; I suspect it will become a “tradition,” especially given the long lives contemporary popes can expect to have.

Just who that someone else will be is an important question. Benedict has been steadily promoting Archbishop of Manila Luis Antonio Tagle over the past couple of years, and I wonder if Tagle is not in some way Ratzinger’s chosen successor. Tagle is sufficiently theologically conservative, an outspoken promoter of justice for the poor (without ever crossing the line to liberation theology), and he is from the Phillippines, which means he is from the Global South, from a country of encounter with Islam, and from Asia, or at least the zone of Asia. I’ll be interested to see how Benedict participates (or doesn’t) in the selection of the next pope. He is too old to vote in the conclave, and he’s technically not a cardinal anyway, so I suspect whatever he does will be behind the scenes.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Jim Melwert

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The announcement of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation (see related story) comes as a surprise to Vatican insiders, and especially to Philadelphia-area Catholics. Some church-goers at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul hadn’t even heard the news when they arrived for morning mass, today.

For one woman, the first thing she thought of was the Pope’s planned visit to Philadelphia (see related story), “In 2015, so I don’t know where that leaves us because we made all the arrangements for him to be here. So, I don’t know.”

As far as Pope Benedict’s legacy, people say it’s hard to follow someone as popular as Pope John Paul II, but one woman said she believes Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger) was running the Vatican leading up to Pope John Paul II’s death.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Saying he no longer has the strength to exercise ministry over the universal church, Pope Benedict XVI announced Feb. 11 that he would be resigning at the end of the month.

“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,” the pope told cardinals gathered for an ordinary public consistory to approve the canonization of new saints.

Pope Benedict, who was elected in April 2005, will be the first pope to resign in almost 600 years.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

The second longest-serving pope in history, John Paul II, who died in office in 2005 at the age of 84, has rather habituated us of late to the idea that popes are expected to carry on until they pop off. And it is true that while diocesan bishops must resign once they reach 75 and cardinals can no longer join a conclave past 80, no such rules apply to the Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church (to name just two of his titles).

But popes can, and do, resign. Not often, but they do. Back in 1045, the irredeemably outrageous Benedict IX – the only man to be pope more than once, and the only one ever to sell the papacy – stepped down, essentially for the cash. Accused by St Peter Damian of “feasting on immorality”, by Bishop Benno of Piacenza of committing “many vile adulteries and murders” and by Pope Victor III of being a pope “so vile, so foul, so execrable, that I shudder to think of it,” Benedict ostensibly resigned to get married – but not before he had sold the office to his godfather, who became Gregory VI (and had to resign himself the following year because, even by the standards of the 11th century, buying the papacy wasn’t really on).

More edifying is the case of Celestine V in 1294. A former Benedictine hermit, Celestine had never wanted to be pope. After a mere five months in office he issued a solemn decree declaring it permissible for a pope to resign and then promptly did so himself, citing “the desire for humility, for a purer life, for a stainless conscience, the deficiencies of his own physical strength, his ignorance, the perverseness of the people, his longing for the tranquility of his former life”. His successor, Boniface VIII, however, refused to allow him to return to a life of solitary contemplation and instead had him locked up in the castle of Fumone, where he died in May 1296 (some suggest Boniface had him murdered).

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

No pope has resigned in almost 600 years. But Pope Benedict’s surprise announcement is not entirely unprecedented. More than 260 men have reigned as Pope since Saint Peter was martyred in Rome in the third decade after the death of Christ, and at least four of them have resigned.

We spoke to medieval historian Doctor Donald Prudlo, Associate Professor of History at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, about the history of papal resignations.

Vatican Radio: It’s been centuries since a Pope has resigned the See of Peter. Can you tell us about the last Pope to resign?

Dr. Donald Prudlo: The last Pope to resign was almost six hundred years ago. It was Pope Gregory XII, who, in a very sacrificial gesture offered to resign so that the council of Constance could assume his power and appoint a new Pope, and in so doing bring an end Great Western Schism. So that was the last pope who actually resigned. So this is quite an unprecedented event.

VR: At one point there was a question of whether it was possible for a Pope to resign. When and how did the Church determine that this was possible?

DP: Certainly. At the end of the 13th century, a very holy hermit named Peter was elected as Pope Celestine V in order to break a deadlock in the conclave that had lasted nearly three years. He was elected because of his personal holiness, sort of a unity candidate. And once he got there, being a hermit, not used to the ways of the Roman Curia, he found himself somewhat unsuited to the task, that it wasn’t just holiness but also some shrewdness and prudence that was also required. So within six months he knew that he was really unequal to the task, and so he gathered the cardinals together in a consistory, just as was recently done, a couple hours ago, and he announced to the cardinals his intention to resign. Because of the Pope’s position as the supreme authority in the Church, Celestine declared that the pope could freely resign, that it was permissible, and that, because, as supreme authority, it did not have to be accepted by anyone. It just had to be freely manifested, as it says today in canon 332 of the Code of Canon Law. As long as it is freely and properly manifested it is to be accepted by no one. The Pope is the supreme authority. Because of this, his successor Boniface VIII in his redaction of Canon Law called the Liber Sextus inserted this constitution of Celestine V and it became normative Catholic law.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

[with video]

By NICOLE WINFIELD and VICTOR L. SIMPSON Associated Press

VATICAN CITY February 11, 2013 (AP)

Pope Benedict XVI said Monday he lacks the strength to fulfill his duties and on Feb. 28 will become the first pontiff in 600 years to resign. The announcement sets the stage for a conclave in March to elect a new leader for world’s 1 billion Catholics.

The 85-year-old pope announced the bombshell in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, surprising even his closest collaborators, even though Benedict had made clear in the past he would step down if he became too old or infirm to do the job.

Benedict called his choice “a decision of great importance for the life of the church.”

Indeed, the move allows the Vatican to hold a conclave before Easter to elect a new pope, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn’t have to be observed.

It will also allow Benedict to hold great sway over the choice of his successor. He has already hand-picked the bulk of the College of Cardinals — the princes of the church who will elect the next pope — to guarantee his conservative legacy and ensure an orthodox future for the church.

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VATICAN CITY
The Economic Times

PARIS: With Pope Benedict’s stunning announcement that he will resign later this month, the time may be coming for the Roman Catholic Church to elect its first non-European leader and it could be a Latin American.

The region already represents 42 percent of the world’s 1.2 billion-strong Catholic population, the largest single block in the Church, compared to 25 percent in its European heartland.

After the Pole John Paul and German-born Benedict, the post once reserved for Italians is now open to all. Who gets the nod depends on the profile of the new pope that the cardinals who elect him at the next conclave think will guide the Church best.

Two senior Vatican officials recently dropped surprisingly clear hints about possible successors. The upshot of their remarks is that the next pope could well be from Latin America.

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ROME
adnkronos

Rome, 11 Feb. (AKI) – Italian politicians on Monday voiced shock at Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement at the end of February.

“I am extremely shaken by this,” commented Italy’s outgoing technocrat prime minister Mario Monti, who declined to comment on whether it would change relations between the Vatican and the Italian state.

Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of Italy’s centre-left Democrat party, which is tipped to win national elections later this month, said Benedict’s move may set a new precedent for future pontiffs, who traditionally die in the job.

“This is news of historic importance, that has only happened twice down the centuries,” Bersani commented.

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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

By Patricia Montemurri
Detroit Free Press

Early morning mass attendees at Divine Child Catholic Church in Dearborn expressed disbelief after learning of Pope Benedict XVI’s plan to resign at month’s end.

“No way. Oh my goodness,” exclaimed Joy Siedlik, 57, an office manager from Livonia as she exited the 6:30 a.m. service.”You just shocked me.”

“I’m just wondering what’s going to happen in the Catholic Church,” said Siedlik. I hope we find another pope as spiritual as he has been.”

The 85-year-old pope, who became pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II, said Monday morning that health concerns prompted his historic decision. Historians said it was the first time in nearly 600 years that a leader of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church has resigned as pope.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Aaron Langmaid
From:Herald Sun
February 11, 2013

AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic says last night’s resignation of Pope Benedict XVI caught him by surprise.

Cardinal George Pell AC, the Archbishop of Sydney, will cast his vote on the Catholic Church’s new leader in Rome by the end of the month, following the first resignation of a Pope since 1415.

“Pope Benedict has always loved the Church and worked to do what was best for her. His resignation came as a surprise to me. We thank him for his years of devoted leadership and service, and his brilliant teaching. We’ll pray for him as he enters retirement. We must also pray for the church as she prepares to choose the next successor of St Peter,” Cardinal Pell said in a brief statement.

More:Pope resigns because of age, health

The 85-year-old German Pope told Vatican cardinals his age and health were factors in his decision to step down, making him the first Pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415.

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