The rumor mill is in full swing and everyone's Lent is on the line. One has to
wonder why the abdication was announced on Feb. 11th? That made it just in
time for everyone to have it on their mind for Ash Wednesday, and for it to be
front row center in every Catholic's prayers all during Lent and Holy Week,
not to mention the Triduum and even Easter Sunday, or Easter Week, for
crying out loud. It's going to be a HOT TOPIC when the Filipinos have their
annual Divine Mercy Sunday potluck celebrations worldwide.
And it could well continue into the summer.
HUH??
Well, can you think of a man alive who would want to be in the Fisherman's
shoes now? Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger could not take the heat, so he got out
of the kitchen.
Any others ready willing and able to put on the chef's hat? :chef:
The lineup of
preferiti doesn't look very promising.
Something about this conclave is different from other recent ones. The powers of
the pope have gradually been leeched out, to the point where the College of
Cardinals or a group of them, has most of the duties of the pope, and he is now
not much more than a figurehead, or, that is, the guy who gets to take all the
blame when things go wrong!
Who wants that gig?
They have pretty much signed off on Papal Infallibility because ever since the
infamous John XXIII, condemnation of error is set on the shelf to collect dust.
So the Power of the Keys hangs on the wall, untouched for 50 years, and
counting.
The pederasty lawsuits worldwide continue unabated. In Los Angeles there was
a very odd news item the other day, saying that a large fund in the Archdiocese
is being used 85% of it, for pederasty lawsuits - oh, it was the cemetery
maintenance fund. So the L.A. cemeteries are going to have to
make do without
85% of their funding so the sex crimes suits can be settled. But this was the
kicker: The official word is that this will not adversely affect the operation of the
cemeteries.
Huh?
Show me another ongoing business that can endure a reduction of 85% without
having to make some compromises in how the ongoing keeps going on.
I am a bit hesitant to say this, but I don't think I will be all that surprised if the
conclave does not come up with a willing
preferitus by Easter. Or, by
Ascension Thursday. Or by Pentecost. Or by Corpus Christi. Or by the Feast
of St. Peter and Paul. How long can it go on, before some manner of decision
is made? The College of Cardinals might make a step to change what the papacy
is. Out of necessity, they might say something like, "We didn't want to do this,
but since we can't agree on who is going to be pope, we are going to not have
a pope for a while, and see how it goes."
Meanwhile, the wafting notes of Bach can be heard from the apartment of
the papal emeritus, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who plays his Bösendorfer DNA
with 97 keys (instead of 88) while the Roman Church "burns" with anxiety.
If it were not so obvious it would be worth speculating, but why Feb. 11th?
It seems to me that, if it were his concern for the Faithful (and maybe it is) he
would not have wanted to disrupt their Christmas, nor, would he want to
disrupt their Easter, so he chose Feb. 11th to make all the Catholics abreast of
the news by Ash Wednesday, so they could all share in his grief for a penance
during Lent. But he doesn't like to talk about penance, or condemnation of
error, or the apostasy of Vatican II,
inter alia.So it seems to me Feb. 11th was the most logical day to do this, if he was
thinking about the participation of the Faithful. Now, we can all complain and
throw tantrums and whine and bemoan etc., but what good will that do? If we
make this a part of our Lenten penance it will become a prayer to God for the
restoration of the Church. This is a great opportunity.
P.S. Actually, I don't know if he has a model 290 Imperial.