Concerning the Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI
Dear Blog Visitors: The announcement that Pope Benedict XVI is resigning did not come as a total surprise to me. It had been speculated that he would retire upon his 85 th birthday. When this did not occur, I had assumed it would just be a matter of time before there would be an official announcement. For several million independent Catholics, such as myself (separated from Rome), the election of a new pontiff will have very little impact, unless of course, there were to be a few innovations that could signal a more inclusive church. In the past twenty years, multiple issues have created a mass exodus from the institutional church (sexual abuse scandal, Vatican bank scandal, women treated as second-class members, ordination policies, outdated mandatory celibacy rule for priests, etc.). When I was ordained a married priest in 2006, the Vatican ruled the ordination to be valid, but illicit. In simple terms, it means that since I was ordained by a v...