Popes just don't resign. It hasn't happened in six centuries. Therefore there must be more to it than ill-health -- some scandal yet to emerge.
If that's the way you're looking at today's news, you're certainly in tune with the zeitgeist. No less an expert that Piers Morgan was quick to tweet that he didn't "buy it". (Well, Piers is Catholic, though that fact somehow doesn't make me feel any better on a day like this). What a depressing sign of the times, when taking someone's word regarding their motives is simply not considered an option by most people.
The most plausible explanation of the Pope's motives that I've seen so far appeared in the not especially pro-Catholic Guardian. In essence, the writer believes that having seen at first hand the damage caused to the Church by the long illness of his predecessor, John Paul II, Benedict was determined not to allow the same to happen again. He also reveals that Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury who has since also left his post, knew about the Pope's intentions before Christmas -- which appears not to have been the case for most of the senior figures in the Catholic Church itself.
The Pope maybe didn't help himself in fighting off the conspiracy theorists with his final Twitter posting, written only hours before he resigned:
We must trust in the mighty power of God’s mercy. We are all sinners, but His grace transforms us and makes us new.
Aha, he must be talking about himself and his own transgressions, right? He himself would be the first to admit it -- the Church and the Papacy believe that they are there for the benefit of sinners, not of saints, who are very thin on the ground. No doubt the conspiracy theories will continue to fester for weeks. I'm quite happy to believe an 85-year-old man when he says he's tired and needs a rest.
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