Pope resigning

Yes PJP was only 58 not 78.
He has not had an easy ride of it either. What with the whistleblowing butler and the court case.
Also he is implicated in the paedophilia cover up. He was the top of the management hierarchy while this was going on.
He gets one, grudging, brownie point from me for his (grudging?) pronouncement that married couples could use condoms to prevent one of them passing AIDS to the other.

I think it is a courageous decision to take and many people do not recognise that they are, to put it bluntly, past it - while those around them do.
There are some in other areas whom one would wish to see replaced as they are well past their sell-by: Sir Bruce Forsyth to name but one!

A view of Ratzinger from the National Secular Society

Just seen this elsewhere on the net.

"Please be aware that a new Pope is NOT being selected at Clarence House. The smoke is due to Camilla's lunchtime cigar."

Thanks for the link Bags.
Very interesting.

What's he going to do with all his hats?

I bags the big sombrero

Will it be back to black & white puffs of smoke again? I really can't get my head round that smokescreen thing (when a new Pope's elected)

Petallus re your question of 13.38, I didn't think Popes were allowed to do that!

I wondered whether the pope has perhaps had a diagnosis of memory problems.

Do you remember Harold Wilson resigning suddenly like this? He did it because he had begun to have memory problems that he and his wife were aware of, although even his cabinet colleagues did not notice them. He saw a doctor, who diagnosed early onset Alzheimers, or something similar, and he resigned that day. It was years before the general public knew. I can remember being surprised that he did not take on any public roles after his resignation but when we knew the reason, understood why.

FlicketyB Unfortunately Ronald Reagan failed to do the same thing.

Great link, bags, many thanks. Very encouraging!

Certainly I think that the role of Pope is much more strenuous than it used to be. Until the late 20th century Popes were not flying round the world and could spend most of their time hidden away in the Vatican. An old man could probably fade away quietly with only his closest associates noticing anything wrong. Today it makes sense to stand down and make way for someone younger and fitter. Perhaps it could be one of the African cardinals this time?

Never mind the hats, I bags the red Prada shoes

This is really interesting; Barrow I love your story and sbagran's answer! It's also good to notice that our different points of view aren't influencing the tone of this post.

'Hello, hello, scuse me....(I'm beginning to feel invisible on GN these days - asking questions/making comments and getting ignored). Please does anyone know why there's the smoke signal thing when a new Pope's elected? Yep, I know I can google it but thought it'd be quicker to ask all you very clever GN's for a less complicated answer

Now, I haven't googled, but it might go back to that thing in Viterbo I mentioned. They took so long to decide (nearly 3 years) that the officials of the town locked them in with a diet of just bread and water, then actually took the roof off the building to make them get a move on. I think that may have been the start of the smoke thing.

But am often wrong!

Now off to google!

Hello there goose - cant get the service these days can you?
I think it is one coloured smoke when they can't agree and then the other colour is a signal that they have decided. I seem to recall this can take some time.
Do you remember when they elected one and he only lasted a couple of weeks.
There was obviously some kind of interference on the line between the almighty and the cardinals on that occasion.
But as to why the black and white smoke - ??

Black=bad, no papa.white=good habeat papa

They add straw to the ballot papers to make the smoke black.

Thank you - all wise ones. I knew it was heralding an old one out and a new one in, but got round to pondering.. why? After all, I think it's only Pope's comings and goings that it happens for, not monarchy or deaths of important pop stars, or any other significant folks. From the last time I seem to remember it took a lot longer than expected for the smoke to turn white to black, or t'other way round, and the fire must have kept going out because quite often there was no smoke at all, which was very perplexing

One of the copntenders (if right word) is a Cardinal Scola. Pope Scola. #sayitquickly

I hope they choose him.

What do you call a resigning Pope? Ex Benedict. #getit?

But it looks as though the candidates are as old as he is.

the black ones are mid sixties

That would be god?