ABUSE TRACKER

VIRGINIA
WRVA

Richmond, VA (1140wrva.com) _ On the day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation effective February 28, a small group called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a news conference outside the Richmond Catholic Diocese headquarters alleging that church officials in five states concealed child abuse allegatiions surrounding a priest who worked in Norfolk, and asking the diocese to determine whether there were any victims in Virginia.

The late Franciscan Brother Stephen Baker was assigned to the James Barry Robinson High School and Home for Boys in Norfolk in the 1970s. The High School closed in 1977 and became a treatment center for emotionally disturbed children.

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UNITED STATES
NBC News

‘Woefully inadequate’ or a ‘great reformer’: Child sex abuse crisis overshadows Benedict’s legacy

By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

As Pope Benedict XVI’s prepares to step down, his legacy is being viewed through the prism of how he handled the child sex abuse crisis, with some observers saying he dealt with it aggressively while others calling his response to the scandals “woefully inadequate.”

During Benedict’s eight-year papacy, thousands of people came forward to claim that had been raped or molested by priests as children, and that bishops had covered it up.

As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, it was Benedict’s old office that dealt with abuse cases, yet he never admitted failure by himself or of the Vatican, and never punished bishops who ignored or covered up the abuse.

“It’s hard to escape the fact that his biggest challenge was the sex abuse crisis and it really didn’t get better during his papacy,” said Michael D’Antonio, author of the upcoming book “Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal.” “And in fact, one can see that the church declined in moral authority, especially in the developed world and that includes places like Ireland and Belgium, which were until a few years ago the most Catholic and the most conservatively Catholic countries in the world. And all of this, I really think is traceable to his failure.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Independent

Associated Press

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will review personnel files of allegedly abusive priests that were recently released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Scott said Monday the special victims bureau is reviewing all the files and comparing them to cases the department has already investigated to see if there are additional victims or if there are cases or crimes they weren’t aware of.

The Los Angeles Police Department announced a similar review last week. The two probes are independent, but Scott says resources may be shared.

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ARIZONA
KVOA

[with video]

Florence – We’ve been investigating a monastery mystery near Florence for 7 years. It’s a beautiful religious oasis but some parents say, it’s more like a cult.

St. Anthony’s Monastery sits on 106 acres of desert land. And it looked pretty much the same when we went back, recently, to walk the grounds.

A former monk killed himself outside of the monastery this past June. 25 year-old Scott Nevins from Modesto, CA was in our report 7-years ago.

In that report we showed you photos of Scott, provided by his family, where he appeared frail. He was one of about 50 monks inside St. Anthony’s Monastery at the time. He looked nothing like he had a year before he moved there.

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UNITED STATES
Newsbusters

By Matt Hadro | February 11, 2013

Right as CNN’s The Situation Room reported the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, correspondent Brian Todd launched into a litany of the “controversies” of his papacy and pushed the positive analysis to the bottom of his report.

“Pope Benedict’s papacy has been marked by serious controversies,” began anchor Wolf Blitzer. Todd followed up that as far as “controversies” were concerned, “there was certainly no shortage of those during his papacy.” [Video below the break. Audio here.]

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UNITED STATES
Opposing Views

By News Hounds, Mon, February 11, 2013

That the alleged “Fair & Balanced” Fox News is a propaganda vehicle for the conservative positions of the Catholic Church isn’t a surprise given that, along with the many Catholics in the ranks of *Fox hosts, there is a conservative Catholic near the top of the Fox News hierarchy. John Moody, Fox News Executive Vice President and executive editor is a staunch conservative Catholic who once wrote an article about how offended he was by Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s black liberation theology. And as Fox’s top RC, he used the alleged Fox News show “America’s Newsroom,” today, to discuss Pope Benedict’s resignation and, in so doing, positively gush over the awesomeness of the Pope. Alleged news host and conservative Catholic Martha MacCallum shared the love.

In introducing Moody, fellow Catholic Martha MacCallum noted that he wrote a biography of Pope John Paul II and interviewed the current pope. Moody, who wrote an article for the Fox website, “As Vatican Leader, Pope Benedict Never Had a Chance,” was just bursting with praise about the outgoing pontiff. He said that the resignation “was one of the bravest things I have ever heard of” and that this “reflects the kind of man and the kind of leader of the Church that he insisted on being.” (Right, offered an apology and not penalties for sexual abuse.)

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

11 February 2013

THE Martin McAleese Report on the Magdalene Laundries is a flawed document. It is not based on the best evidence. Its focus is inappropriately narrow. Its research, despite claims of prodigious hunting through the enormous ocean of state records, missed obvious and important information about the laundries.

Its terms of reference were wrong and have been dishonestly represented to the Irish people. The Government issued what can only be described as ‘a mandate both broad and narrow’. The narrow bit was “to establish the facts of state involvement with the Magdalene Laundries”. This was primitive and clumsy. Its objective seems to have been to find out where the State was at risk from legal pursuit.

The committee broadened this into ‘a Narrative Report’ on the laundries, into which they threw every possible document, many of which were absurd for the task at hand. For example, what are Tomas Derrig’s ‘Rules for the Industrial Schools’ doing as a grubby photocopy appendix version for St George’s Industrial School in Limerick, signed but not dated by the minister?

Industrial school rules had nothing to do with the laundry girls. They were lucky to get a faint whiff of education as they lifted their heads from the steaming cauldrons of filthy clothing that dominated their lives.

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NEW YORK
Politicker

By Colin Campbell

Earlier today, Pope Benedict XVI surprisingly announced his abidcation–the first time a Pope has stepped down since 1415–setting the stage for the dramatic process of electing a new Vatican leader. And, although Congressman Michael Grimm doesn’t get a vote in that select process, the Staten Island lawmaker wants everyone to know he’s backing New York’s own Cardinal Timothy Dolan for the holy vocation.

“It is too early to determine the full extent of Pope Benedict’s legacy; however, New Yorkers will never forget the gift he gave us with the elevation of Cardinal Dolan,” Mr. Grimm announced in a statement. “Cardinal Dolan has lifted the spirits of Catholics and non-Catholics throughout New York and the world, and renewed the faith of many. If it were up to me to pick the next pope, Cardinal Dolan would have my vote!”

Mr. Grimm, who is Catholic, additionally praised Pope Benedict’s unusual decision to step down, calling it “a sign of a great leader.”

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VATICAN CITY
NBC News

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

The bookmakers in Europe already have their favorites, but the world won’t know who will succeed Pope Benedict XVI until that puff of white smoke is sent up the chimney of the conclave room next month.

The College of Cardinals has no shortage of factors to consider in picking the next pope — from age to geography — and no dearth of potential candidates.

Here are some of the princes of the church whose names have emerged from Vatican watchers since Monday’s surprise abdication announcement:

Cardinal Angelo Scola: He’s the archbishop of Milan, a good launching pad for popes, and the former Patriarch of Venice, which has also produced many a papal front-runner. Scola, 71, has close ties to the conservative Communion and Liberation movement, is a champion of immigrants’ right and has been active in outreach to the Muslim world. Vatican expert John Allen has written of Scola: “If you like Benedict XVI, you’ll love Scola; even if you don’t, you’ll find it hard not to be charmed.”

Cardinal Marc Ouellet: Former archbishop of Quebec, he heads the Congregation of Bishops, a power center. Ouellet, 68, speaks six languages, spent a decade as a missionary in Colombia and has strong ties to Latin and South America. He’s considered conservative and made headlines in 2010 when he said abortion was a “moral crime,” even in cases of rape. In a 2011 interview, he laughed off the idea of becoming pontiff, saying the workload and responsibility “would be a nightmare.”

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TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Cindy Horswell | February 11, 2013

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo – the first ever cardinal from the southern United States who also oversees the Houston-Galveston diocese – will be among the select few to not only chose the next pope but be a possible candidate.

But a betting website, paddypower.com, gave him only 100 to 1 odds of being picked as the pope’s successor from among the 54 possible candidates the site listed. DiNardo ranked 12th from the bottom, with Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana ranked first with 3 to 1 odds.

DiNardo, 62, is one of only 118 cardinals worldwide who are just one step below the pope.

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OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By Rita Price
The Columbus Dispatch
Monday February 11, 2013

A former central Ohio priest who spent a year in prison for molesting a 12-year-old boy has died.

Thomas L. McLaughlin, known as “Father Mac,” died last Wednesday at the age of 82.

McLaughlin was removed from his duties as pastor at Church of the Resurrection in New Albany months before he pleaded guilty in 1989 to molesting the child at the priest’s cottage at Indian Lake in Logan County. In exchange for the plea, charges that he had molested six other boys were not pursued.

McLaughlin also was pastor at St. Mary Church in Marion and served at other parishes in the Columbus diocese.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

As surprise washed over Catholic parishioners Monday after the resignation announcement by Pope Benedict XVI, retired nun Mary Dispenza was left saddened that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony will have a hand in picking the pontiff’s successor.

Mahony, who was stripped of his public duties last month following new disclosures in the priest sex-abuse scandal, says he will travel to Rome to vote on the next pope.

“Cardinal Mahony still has his powers under the church’s law,” said Dispenza, who received a 2006 settlement from the archdiocese over claims of molestation by her parish priest in the 1940s.

“It is a sad commentary that he walk into Rome and cast his vote despite his behavior,” she said. “But church law is that way.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Weekly

By Dennis RomeroMon., Feb. 11 2013

If you thought Roger Mahony being stripped of his “duties” was a cop out intended to make you think the church was doing something regarding past priest abuse and the Cardinal’s strategy to transfer bad clergy away from the prying eyes of the law, you’re probably right.

It was a mild, public slap in the face (and Mahony responded by slapping back, if you’ll recall). Now the disgraced former leader of the L.A. Archdiocese is rubbing it in your face:

He gets to go to Rome and vote on the next pope. Yep, he even blogged about the honor today.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester

February 11, 2013, WORCESTER, MA — I was stunned when I heard the news early this morning that our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has decided to resign as Bishop of Rome and Universal Pastor of the Church, effective February 28, 2013. However, upon further reflection, this dramatic news does not completely surprise me.

As recently as 2011 in an interview with a German journalist, the Holy Father said, “When a Pope arrives at a clear awareness that he no longer has the physical, mental or psychological capacity to carry out the task that has been entrusted to him, then he has the right, and in some cases, the duty to resign.”

No doubt some people will offer reasons for the Holy Father’s decision to resign. At this point, all such explanations would be mere speculation. What we can say with certainty in that the Holy Father’s decision reflects his love for and commitment to promoting the good of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI has served the Church with extraordinary wisdom, unshakable faith and undaunted courage as a priest, theologian, cardinal and pope.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Digtriad

[with video]

Greensboro, NC — Monday, Pope Benedict XVI announced he will resign at the end of February. Assistant Director of the Elon University Poll, Jason Husser explains how the resignation will affect the Catholic Church, politically.

Explain what this will do for the Catholic Church.

Husser: This resignation could cause lowered attendance for Catholics who aren’t deeply invested into the Church. For some Catholics who were already suspicious of the organization, this kind of unprecedented change will raise further doubts and confirm existing fears. As a result, I’d expect to see a decline in Catholic attendance, at least in the short term. In the unlikely event an American Cardinal is elected, interest in the Catholic Church will likely rise in the United States.

What are the political ramifications of the Pope’s resignation?

Husser: The resignation will probably help the Republican Party, though only slightly. If the resignation influences adherence rates in the United States, it will probably be among those who attend only occasionally. Those infrequent attenders are asymmetrically Democratic voters. As a result, the Catholic Church could become more homogeneously Republican, making Catholic voters an easier target for GOP politicians. Furthermore, if the Pope’s successor continues a theologically conservative movement, Catholic voters may become increasingly likely to vote for Republicans for social policy reasons.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Peter Mirus | February 11, 2013

Around the news sites and blogosphere, you have begun to see only the first of the many inaccurate, meaningless, irresponsible, and completely misinformed (not to mention heretical, in some cases) reporting on Pope Benedict’s resignation and the election of a new pope. Talking heads, so called “experts,” etc. will be put forward by the media and will seldom say anything correct or insightful. Here are some examples for you from the Wall Street Journal.

•”The cardinals will look for ‘someone who has a combination of theological stances, but who also best addresses where we are seeing the church going today,’ said Francesco Cesareo, president of Assumption College in Worcester, Mass.”

•”‘The pontificate of Benedict has combined tradition and innovation. I don’t believe that the conclave will break up this heritage,’ said Francesco Perfetti, professor of contemporary history at Luiss Univerisity.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Daily News

[Cardinal Mahony’s statement]

By Barbara Jones and Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writers
dailynews.com
Posted: 02/11/2013

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony will be among those traveling to Rome next month to participate in a papal conclave to elect a successor to retiring Pope Benedict XVI.

The 210-member College of Cardinals elects the pope, but only those under age 80 can participate in the secret election.

“Surely one of his great legacies will be a continuing emphasis on the need for all Catholics to exercise their role as evangelizers in the world,” the 78-year-old cardinal said in a statement. “His focus upon the new evangelization will continue to enliven all disciples of Jesus.”

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VATICAN CITY
SBS (Australia)

Widely seen as an ultra-conservative, the first German pope in history has proved in many ways more flexible and modern than his Polish predecessor.

Pope Benedict XVI will leave behind a Catholic Church grappling with crises from child abuse scandals involving priests to confronting radical Islam as well as struggling to find its place in an increasingly secular Western world.

German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who will step down at the end of this month after an eight-year pontificate, was elected pope on April 19, 2005 at a time when anger at clerical abuse was at its height in parts of Europe and North America, shaking the faith of many ordinary Catholics.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

A MELBOURNE priest claims the extra strain placed on Pope Benedict from dealing with widespread sexual abuse within the Catholic Church may have been a factor in his resignation.

Father Max Vodola said the elderly Pope’s shock exit from the role may be because he is too physically and emotionally weak to deal with the decades-old problem.

It comes as Archbishop Denis Hart leads Victorian tributes to the Pope, who he describes as gentle and loving.

“Trying to correct the errors that went as far back as 50 years would be an immense shame and embarrassment, and would require the right protocols in place to deal with it,” Father Vodola said.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Southern Illinoisan

CHICAGO (AP) — Cardinal Francis George of Chicago plans on attending his second papal conclave next month.

Pope Benedict XVI said Monday he would resign Feb. 28, becoming the first pope in 600 years to step down. Cardinal George talked to reporters Monday about the expected March conclave to replace the pontiff. George previously attended the conclave in 2005 that elected Benedict after Pope John Paul II died.

George says he feels more experienced now and would spend more time asking questions and getting impressions of his fellow cardinals. The Roman Catholic Church elects a new pope from among its cardinals. George says he would make better use of his time before voting begins.

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CHILE
Santiago Times

Monday, 11 February 2013
Written by Jay Balagna

Chilean gay rights group Movilh expressed its hopes Monday for a supporter to land in the Vatican’s top spot after news of Pope Benedict XVI´s plans for retirement spread around the world.

The statement, which lists the Movilh’s complaints over Benedict’s stance against homosexuality, calls for members of the church and its clergy to press for the election of a new pope with a more accepting viewpoint.

The statement comes in contrast to official reactions to the news from around the world, including that of the Chilean government. In a statement, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera called the announcement “an act of courage and of conscience.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Sioux City Journal

Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony will help elect a new pope, despite recently being rebuked for not doing more to stop sexual abuse by priests when he led the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Mahony has been barred from public duties in the archdiocese by the current archbishop because of revelations about his past handling of clergy pedophile cases. But Mahony remains in good standing as archbishop emeritus.

Mahony says he looks forward to traveling to Rome to participate in the conclave that will choose the next pope.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KPCC

UPDATE 2:39 p.m. Archbishop of Los Angeles Jose Gomez began Monday’s mid-day mass by praying for Pope Benedict, who announced his surprise resignation on Monday, then spoke glowingly about the Pontiff who placed him in his current post.

“His decision to resign is a beautiful, Christ-like act of humility and love for the church,” Gomez said. “This is the act of a Saint, who thinks not about himself but only about the will of God, and the good of God’s people.”

Gomez informed parishioners at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in downtown L.A. of the coming conclave of cardinals that will choose the next pope.

His predecessor in L.A., Cardinal Roger Mahony, plans to attend. Mahony was recently pulled from daily duties in the L.A. Archdiocese amidst a scandal over how Mahony handled allegations of sexual abuse by priests. (You can view Mahony’s full statement on the Pope’s resignation below; the story continues beneath the window.)

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS | Mon Feb 11, 2013

(Reuters) – Pope Benedict would not be the meticulous theologian he has always been if he didn’t make sure even his shocking resignation – the first by a pontiff in over 700 years – was fully in line with Roman Catholic doctrine.

His announcement was so stunning that many Catholics will have instinctively asked if a pope is allowed to step down. For many of them, Pope John Paul’s long and very public agony before he died in 2005 is the iconic image of the end of a papacy.

But the Code of Canon Law, the legal corpus governing the Church, clearly provides for a papal resignation in its Canon 332. John Paul mentioned it in a detailed 1996 document that laid down the procedure for electing a new pope.

Benedict’s reputation as an orthodox and self-effacing pope ensures there will be few questions about the legality of the move and will reduce speculation that he plans to continue to play a decisive role behind the scenes.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Joelle Casteix on February 11, 2013

By stepping down, Pope Benedict has proven he’s capable of bold action. For the safety of children, in the weeks ahead, we hope he’ll show similar decisiveness and

—discipline at least a handful of current prelates who are concealing or who have concealed child sex crimes,

–insist that every bishop post names of the credibly accused predator priests on his website (as 30 US bishops have done: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/lists.htm),

–order bishops to actively work with lawmakers to pass stronger child safety measures and reform archaic laws that shield officials who commit and conceal child sex crimes,

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UNITED STATES
Catholics4Change

February 11, 2013 by Susan Matthews

The U.S. broadcast news, with the notable exception of Cokie Roberts – whose mother was ambassador to the Vatican, seems clueless in regard to the mindset of the College of Cardinals. These insulated, arrogant, elderly men wrapped in robes don’t bother themselves with the daily life of the average American.

They are not concerned with popularity or being liked. I can assure you that none of them came up with the idea of the Pope having a twitter account. All this might be fine if their focus was on protecting Church doctrine against decaying modern morals.

Over the course of several hundred years, the College of Cardinals has proven its primary concern is maintaining a Machiavellian grip on money and power. They wield Tradition – capital T – in order to do so. That’s not O.K.

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ROME
Wall Street Journal

By LIAM MOLONEY And GIADA ZAMPANO

ROME—The sudden nature of Pope Benedict XVI’s departure could affect the profile of his successor, in part because voting cardinals will have little time to strategize about who the next pontiff should be.

A speedy decision is likely to favor a compromise figure that is similar to Pope Benedict: a traditionalist in doctrine, but open to building bridges between the Vatican and the modern world, Vatican experts said.

The cardinals will look for “someone who has a combination of theological stances, but who also best addresses where we are seeing the church going today,” said Francesco Cesareo, president of Assumption College in Worcester, Mass.

The Papal conclave—the secretive meeting of Roman Catholic cardinals to elect a new pope—is expected to start shortly after the end of this month, when the 85-year-old pontiff said he would step down.

A main question facing the conclave is about style. The cardinals will likely debate whether to select a low-key gradualist or someone who is going to govern with grand gestures, such as Pope Benedict’s predecessor John Paul II.

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VATICAN CITY
Mirror (United Kingdom)

[with photo of the lightning strike]

This was the moment lightning struck the Vatican today – hours after Pope Benedict XVI’s bolt-from-the-blue resignation.

The lightning touched the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the holiest Catholic churches, after the Pope’s shock admission he lacks strength to do the job.

The Vatican stressed that no specific medical condition prompted Benedict’s decision to quit – the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

The move surprised even his closest aides, even though Benedict, 85, had made clear in the past he would step down if he became too old or infirm.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

James Mackenzie
Reuters
3:43 p.m. CST, February 11, 2013

ROME (Reuters) – Pope Benedict leaves office having failed to stamp out the sexual abuse of children by priests and with the culture of secrecy that fostered the scandal still in place, groups representing some of the victims said on Monday.

Bishops Accountability, a U.S. pressure group, said the pope had apologized frequently for the harm done by priests but had never taken effective action to rectify the “incalculable harm” done to hundreds of thousands of children by predatory clergy.

“Benedict’s words rang hollow. He spoke as a shocked bystander, as if he had just stumbled upon the abuse crisis,” Anne Barrett Doyle, the group’s co-director said in a statement.

The festering child abuse scandal broke out well before the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took office in 2005 but it overshadowed his papacy from the beginning, as more and more cases came to light in dioceses across the world.

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ROME
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Published: February 11, 2013

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise decision to resign on Monday immediately set off a flurry of speculation about his replacement, who will be called upon to guide the Roman Catholic Church through an increasingly secular era in which the church has lost the certainty it claimed for centuries.

Some Vatican observers predicted that the growing importance of the developing world to the church could weigh on the decision and, perhaps, lead to the choice of a non-European pope. But the voting bloc of cardinals coming from Europe remains sizable and influential, experts said.

“It’s a premature question, though it’s clear that two non-Italian popes in a row have broken the notion that the pope has to be Italian,” said Alberto Melloni, a historian of the Roman Catholic Church and director of the John XXIII Center in Bologna, a liberal Catholic research institute. “But the church is not the Austro-Hungarian Empire where leaders alternate between countries. The pope is first of all bishop of Rome, and then the leader of the universal church.”

Vatican experts argued that vision, rather than geography, would likely determine who would replace Benedict, and that the ability to communicate with a distracted world would be high on the list of desirable qualities. As nearly all of the cardinals eligible to vote were appointed by the current pope or his predecessor, John Paul II, it is likely that the next pope will share strong continuity in terms of vision and doctrine.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press
February 11, 2013

MONTREAL – If a Canadian does become the next pope and spiritual leader to the world’s one billion Catholics, the story of his ascension will begin, appropriately enough, on a hockey rink.

The moment of inspiration where Marc Cardinal Ouellet decided he should pursue the priesthood came as he nursed a broken leg, sustained during a hockey game.

Longtime friend Lionel Gendron, a Quebec bishop, says that at the time the teenaged Ouellet was studying in northwestern Quebec to be a teacher.

He says Ouellet was an excellent hockey player.

He says the 68-year-old Ouellet still plays the game with his nephews when he visits his family in Quebec.

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AUSTRALIA
Advertiser

By NICK MILLER
Feb. 12, 2013

THE surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI – the first by a pontiff for almost 600 years – has led to calls for his replacement to be the Catholic Church’s first black leader.

In a letter to his Catholic brethren Pope Benedict, 85, said his advanced age and the pace of change in the modern world had left him unable to “adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me”.

Tributes have poured in from religious and political figures around the world – but many also expressed their shock at the news.

Some commentators argued that the Roman Catholic Church should take the opportunity to modernise, after eight years under Pope Benedict in which it was accused of being overly conservative, and hobbled by sexual abuse scandals.

Cardinal George Pell, born and educated in the Victorian town of Ballarat, has long been touted as a candidate for Pope.

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VATICAN CITY
KTAR

(AP) – Pope Benedict XVI set clear and ambitious goals for his papacy quickly after he was elected: He hoped to re-evangelize the increasingly secular West. He would show that religious faith and reason could co-exist in the modern world. He would reach out to traditionalists who had split from the church and shore up Catholic identity.

He came into the papacy with the reputation of a brilliant theologian; nearly eight years later, he leaves the Holy See with that reputation intact. But because of burdens he inherited and ongoing problems in his own pontificate, Benedict fell short of the mark he set for himself on unifying the church, building relationships with other religions and restoring the church’s influence in broader society.

A look at some aspects of his legacy:

CHRISTIAN HERITAGE: Benedict dedicated his pontificate to stemming the spread of secularism, especially in Europe, where church attendance has dwindled. He condemned same-sex marriage, argued that gender had become something chosen instead of given from God, and said lack of belief was dangerous, pointing to violence that resulted when past atheist governments “tried to stamp out the light of God to instead turn on illusory and misleading glows.” Yet even as he made his arguments, acceptance of same-sex relationships grew throughout Europe and the United States. …

VATICAN SCANDALS: Some major scandals shook the Vatican during Benedict’s pontificate. In 2010, the Holy See’s top two banking officials came under scrutiny in a money-laundering inquiry that resulted in millions of euros being seized from a Vatican bank account. The pope hired a Swiss expert a few months ago to help upgrade safeguards against wrongdoing, but problems remained. Meanwhile, the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, was sentenced to prison after stealing the pope’s personal correspondence and leaking the documents to a journalist. Gabriele said he thought the pope wasn’t being informed of the “evil and corruption” in the Vatican. Benedict later pardoned him.

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MAINE
Seacoast Online

By Laura Dolce
ldolce@seacoastonline.com

February 11, 2013

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — When Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would be retiring at the end of the month, he may have caught the world by surprise, but for Maine’s Monsignor Charles Murphy, there were signs more than a year ago that the pope was struggling.

“I saw him last in December 2011 and his walk was very impaired,” said Murphy, director of deacons for the Archdiocese of Portland and the author of several books, including The Spirituality of Fasting and Eucharistic Adoration. “He had to be wheeled around. But mentally, he was very sharp.”

Murphy, who spent more than a decade of his life in Vatican City, first as a student from 1958 to 1962, and then as rector of the North American College for seminarians from 1978 to 1985, visits each year and said Benedict’s stepping down was “unprecedented.”

“John Paul II wouldn’t, even with advanced Parkinson’s,” he said. “He’d say, ‘Do you ask the father of the family to retire?’”

Benedict, Murphy said, was “more realistic.” Chosen to serve as an “interim” pope following the long term of John Paul II, he understood that his role was to give the cardinals a chance to “regroup and rethink.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs LA

STATEMENT on the RESIGNATION of POPE BENEDICT XVI

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony
Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles

February 11, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI has been an extraordinary Successor to St. Peter these past eight years, and I thank God for the graces and blessings which have come to the Church and to the world during his Pontificate.

It was my privilege to participate in the Conclave of April 2005 when Pope Benedict was elected. I recall so clearly his words when he told the Cardinals that he was choosing the name of Benedict because of his fondness for the prayerfulness and the Rule of St. Benedict, and also because Pope Benedict XV [1914—1920] served during a time of turmoil and wars across the world.

Pope Benedict XVI began his Petrine ministry from a firm foundation of prayer, holiness, and remarkable scholarship. Before the end of 2005 he issued Deus Caritas Est, a letter on the virtue and gift of charity and love among the disciples of Jesus Christ. Two more followed: one on hope in 2007, the third on faith in 2009.

His homilies and addresses were so amazing because he was not speaking about Jesus Christ as a topic, but he was speaking about Jesus from a deep and intimate knowledge of Jesus himself. It was that attraction to the person of Jesus Christ which flowed from all his many teachings for the Church and the world.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Mercury News

By ROBERT JABLON Associated Press
Posted: 02/11/2013

LOS ANGELES—Cardinal Roger Mahony will help elect a new pope despite recently being rebuked for not doing more to stop sexual abuse by priests when he led the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Mahony, 76, made no reference to the scandal when he issued a statement Monday saying he would be among the cardinals who will choose the next pope.

“I look forward to traveling to Rome soon to help thank Pope Benedict XVI for his gifted service to the church, and to participate in the conclave to elect his successor,” Mahony said.

Benedict, 85, announced Monday that he will resign on Feb. 28 because of failing health.

Mahony stepped down as head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 2011 after reaching retirement age. Long seen as a progressive leader who supported immigrant rights in an area with an enormous Spanish-speaking population, Mahony’s reputation was tainted by the abuse scandal that resulted in a record $600 million payout to more than 500 plaintiffs who sued the church over abuse.

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DEUTSCHLAND
T Online

Geahnt hatten es Vatikan-Insider schon lange: Papst Benedikt XVI. – ehemals Josef Ratzinger – würde vermutlich nicht bis zum bitteren Ende durchhalten. Was jedoch treibt das Oberhaupt der katholischen Christenheit zu einem Schritt, den sich seit 1294 kein Pontifex mehr zu gehen gewagt hat?

Christian Feldmann, Ratzinger-Biograf aus Regensburg, ist einer der Experten, die mit dem Rücktritt gerechnet hatten. “Benedikt war schon immer ein schrecklich verzagter Charakter”, so Feldmann zu t-online.de. Der Papst sei einerseits bescheiden, vor allem aber “sehr ängstlich sowie zum Rückzug und zum Pessimismus neigend”.

Seine Betrachtung der Welt sei keineswegs “sieghaft-hoffnungsfroh”, sondern skeptisch, was den Fortgang der Dinge und den Charakter des Menschen angehe. Sein Handeln sei geprägt von der Angst vor einem Dammbruch, dem Moment, an dem alles in seiner Kirche auseinanderläuft.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources says he is sure the state will behave appropriately, once the Taoiseach and Tanaiste meet with some of the survivors of the Magdalene Launderies today.

Pat Rabbitte was responding to questions about whether or not the Government will apologise to the women.

It follows last week’s report which detailed clear evidence of State involvement in how women were sent to the laundries, and in how the work-houses were operated.

The Justice for Magdalenes group has reservations about today’s meeting and has asked for clarification on the nature of it before deciding whether to attend.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

What is Pope Benedict XVI’s rush? If the Catholic Church can survive a month without a new Pope, it can survive six months as well. In the past decade, it has survived with a seriously ill Pope, John Paul II, and a very old Pope, Benedict XVI. The Catholic Church needs to be fixed and 120 Cardinals in red dresses marching around St. Peter’s Square on short notice is no way to do that.

Of course, Pope Benedict and his Vatican clique of mainly Italian Cardinals must know this and apparently intend to try to stampede the many shell-shocked Cardinals. Are Cardinals all that naive? Are they so impressed with Pope Benedict’s performance that they are prepared to rubber-stamp his hand picked successor? A mere third of the voting Cardinals can forestall any Vatican clique favored candidate until the Catholic Church structure is fixed.

Many Cardinals are likely to face criminal prosecutors during the next Pope’s reign. Unlike in the Reformation, they have no European monarchs protecting them from imprisonment. As an experienced Harvard Law trained and now retired international lawyer, I would advise any Cardinals who were my clients to go slower here. Fix the Church now. You will not be able to do that if you are behind bars. This is likely to be many Cardinals’ last chance to save themselves. Look what happened to Cardinal Mahony, who apparently has just been fed, in effect, to the Los Angeles prosecutors by a public shaming evidentally with the Pope’s blessing. Who will be next?

Yes, go to Rome, but demand first that a conference be convened soon before any election to be held far away from Rome to address seriously and comprehensively the Church’s major problems, which are just getting worse with the recent decades of papal inattention.

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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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