Pope Benedict XVI is not the only pope to hand over the Keys of St. Peter to someone else But there seems to be some confusion in the media as to who, exactly, was the last pope to resign. Some say Gregory XII, while others say Celestine V. The truth is that both men gave up the papal tiara, though under radically different circumstances. Here is a look at two of the remarkable figures that made the same dramatic choice as Benedict.

Gregory XII (1406-1415)

Born Angelo Correr around 1326 to a noble family in Venice, Gregory had a reputation as a particularly pious and honest churchman. The Roman Catholic Church was currently mired in the Western Schism, a complex ecclesiastical conflict that had produced the spectacle of multiple ‘popes’ reigning at the same time and hurling excommunications at one another. When the Roman pope Innocent VII died in 1406, the cardinals unanimously elected Correr as pope. Each member of the conclave had sworn an oath that, if elected, he would renounce the papacy if the rival in Avignon, Benedict XIII (who is often referred to as an ‘antipope’) would do the same, thereby bringing the Western Schism to an end.

At first, Gregory seemed willing to adhere to his promise. He entered into negotiations with Benedict, and the two pontiffs agreed to meet in the neutral city of Savona in Liguria. But Gregory’s determination started to waver in the face of opposition from his relatives and King Ladislaus of Naples. He eventually backed out of the meeting, claiming that he was afraid of being captured by Benedict’s supporters.

Gregory’s cardinals were none too pleased at his change of heart, and although he ordered them to remain in the city of Lucca, several of them slipped away and entered into secret negotiations with their counterparts in Benedict’s camp. The two groups of cardinals decided to convene a general council to depose both popes and elect a single successor. The council eventually met in Pisa, but neither Gregory nor Benedict attended. In June 1409, the Council of Pisa duly deposed Gregory and Benedict and elected a successor, who took the title of Alexander V. But Gregory created several new cardinals and convened them in a rival council that condemned both Benedict and Alexander.

Western Christendom was now split between three popes, and although Alexander V died after a very brief reign, he was succeeded by another antipope, John XXIII. Under pressure from secular rulers, John convened another council in the city of Constance. Although convened by an antipope, the council was legitimized when Gregory sent representatives with a bull that retroactively summoned the council and approved its succeeding acts. He also empowered one of his representatives to resign the papacy on his behalf, and he duly fulfilled his commission. In gratitude, the Council made Gregory Cardinal Bishop of Porto and legate to Ancona, where he died shortly thereafter.

Celestine V (1294)

The man who would become Celestine V was born with the name Pietro to humble parents in the Kingdom of Sicily in 1215. He entered the Benedictine Order at the age of seventeen and soon developed a reputation for asceticism. He eventually decided to take up residence in a cavern, first at Mt. Morrone (which is why he eventually became known as ‘Pietro di Morrone’) and then Mt. Maiella. Emulating the example of St. John the Baptist, he tortured his flesh relentlessly, wearing a hair shirt roughened with knots, fasting every day except Sunday, and keeping four Lents throughout the year (during three of which, he only consumed bread and water).

Morrone’s brand of piety proved quite popular, and he founded a religious order that would eventually be named after him. Although it was eventually made part of the Benedictine Order, the Celestines had to endure a much severer way of life. But they became so popular that the order soon boasted 36 monasteries and 600 monks. Morrone ended up handing control of the order to someone else so that he could escape into the solitude of the wilderness.

When Pope Nicholas IV died in 1292, the cardinals gathered at Perugia to elect his successor. Their deliberations dragged on for two years, and Morrone sent them a letter filled with righteous indigation, warning them that God would surely punish them for their dilatory behavior. Desperate for a candidate, the Dean of the College of Cardinals nominated Morrone himself, and the rest of the cardinals readily assented to his election. When Morrone was informed of his election, he at first refused to take up the papacy and contemplated fleeing, but pressure from crowds of believers and the Kings of Naples and Hungary persuaded him to take office.

Morrone took the regnal name Celestine V, his papacy soon got off to a rocky start. He alienated his cardinals by reviving a decree of Gregory X that required cardinals to be isolated from the outside world when electing a pope and imposed strict living conditions on them for the duration of the election. He also proved to be a better ascetic than an administrator, and he resented the fact that the temporal business of the papacy often got in the way of his prayers.

Ultimately, the burden of his office proved to be too much, and Celestine began to contemplate resignation. But a papal resignation was an extremely rare event, and there was considerable uncertainty among church lawyers as to whether or not it was even possible. Celestine used his power as pope to declare that it was in fact possible for a pontiff to resign, and he took advantage of that pronouncement just a short while later. All told, he had reigned for five months.

Unfortunately, Celestine’s successor, Boniface VIII, had him arrested and thrown into a tiny cell in the castle of Fumone. He endured terrible conditions and rude treatment by his guards for nine months before finally dying at the age of 81.

The article The Men Who Gave Up the Papacy appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Pope Benedict XVI has shocked the world by announcing that he will relinquish the papacy at the end of the month.

Benedict made his historic announcement at a consistory that was held to approve the canonization of three new saints. In a faltering voice, he read a statement in Latin to the assembled cardinals.

“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,” he said.

Benedict stated that governing the church required one had to be strong in both mind and body. But since he had come to feel increasingly infirm, it was important that he step down and let someone with a stronger constitution take over.

As required by canon law, Benedict announced that he made his resignation with “full freedom.” And in display of German meticulousness, he also declared that he would “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.”

Benedict concluded his statement by announcing that he planned to continue serving the church through a life dedicated to prayer.

Although Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops are expected to retire at 75, the pope traditionally holds office for life. Benedict’s predecessor, John Paul II, remained in office despite suffering from a variety of debilitating ailments. But over the centuries, a handful of popes have chosen to step down. Gregory XII resigned in 1415 in order to end the Great Schism, a decades-long ecclesiastical civil war that saw multiple popes in office at the same time. Over a century earlier, Celestine V stepped down after a reign of only five months when he became disillusioned with the nature of the papacy. Hopefully, Benedict’s post-papal life will be more congenial than that of Celestine, who was imprisoned in the castle of Fumone by his successor.

The full text of Benedict’s announcement can be found here.

Image Courtesy : Catholic Church (England and Wales)

The article Pope Benedict XVI To Resign appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Pope Benedict XVI continued with his papal mass in Germany despite an earlier incident that day when a man fired an air gun at a security guard. The mass took place on Saturday, September 24, and the shooting occurred on the edge of the security zone in Erfurt, roughly two hours before the mass began.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said there was “no worry” for the papal entourage. The suspect was later identified by police as a 30-year-old Erfurt man from Berlin. German police said an air rifle and air pistol were found in his apartment, and that he was being held on suspicion of attempting to cause serious bodily harm.

At the mass, the pope defended traditional values saying religion must not be banished from public life, and that Christian churches are walking side by side in the battle. The pope also said, “Knowing, too, the value of family and marriage, we as Christians attach great importance to defending the integrity and the uniqueness of marriage between one man and one woman from any kind of misinterpretation.”

“Here the common engagement of Christians, including many Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians, makes a valuable contribution to building up a society equipped for the future,” he continued. After the Mass, the pope flew to the largely Catholic populated city of Freiburg in southern Germany, where roughly 25,000 people lined the streets, waving and cheering as he drove to the downtown cathedral.

At an evening prayer vigil in the outskirts of the city, he urged more than 20,000 youths to overcome “a tendency toward evil,” encompassing envy, aggression and selfishness. Speaking in Erfurt on Friday, the Pope spoke to other faiths, meeting Muslims in Berlin and, later, the leadership of the Protestant Church in Erfurt.

Later that day, in an unannounced meeting, the pope met for half an hour with victims who endured sexual abuse by priests. He met with the five victims for half an hour and expressed “deep compassion and regret.” The victims were two women and three men from across Germany and were said to have remained very calm during the meeting.

Victims’ groups have accused the pope of refusing to address the issue openly. Last year, hundreds of Germans revealed their stories of having been physically or sexually abused by members of the Catholic clergy.

The Vatican released a statement regarding the meeting with the victims stating in a that the pope was “moved and deeply shaken.” They said he expressed the hope that God “may heal the wounds of the victims and grant them inner peace.”

 
haak78 / Shutterstock.com

The article Papal Mass Continues After Air Gun Shooting in Germany appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Pope, during his weekly blessing to pilgrims, claimed from his summer residence in Castel Gondolfo, south of Rome, the only way for all of the victims to escape from the tragedy in the Horn of Africa is with “compassion” and “fraternal solidarity.”

The catastrophic drought has affected more than 11.8 million people and cover so large an area where both the populations of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are suffering from hunger.

Relief organizations still don’t know how they can deal with the worst drought in the last 60 years. United Nations’ humanitarian affairs coordination says: “The crisis in southern Somalia is expected to continue to worsen through 2011, with all areas of the south slipping into famine.”

It is estimated that half of Somalia’s people are in need of relief assistance after large periods of civil conflict and drought.

“The drought is the reason I left Somalia, I had a deaf husband and between us we had cows and goats,” said Halima Korone Une, a Somalia’s refugee in Dabaab, Kenya. “Because of the drought we had to eat all our goats and my husband went to look for pasture for the cows but never came back so I decided to leave my home with our five children.”

That is the reality. Korone lost one of her children on their way and now she has only four children with her.

Meanwhile, the Pope is giving blessings far from the devastating situation, in his summer residence in Rome.  While The United Nations has declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia and stated that the effects of the drought have been felt more widely across the war-torn country, as well as in parts of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, Pope Benedict XVI says: “It is an immense task. In this time of holiday, let us not forget to open our hands and our hearts to come to the aid of those who need it,” and he added: “Let us give food and share our bread with the needy.”

The Vatican’s official daily keeps saying that it is difficult to save the people of Somalia. Furthermore, their official daily will refer to the international community for the hard job. Sources in the Vatican also believe the international community should take a more active mediation role between rival and Somali clans:

“If international players do not manage to do this, then even a massive humanitarian effort by UN agencies, including the WFP’s airlift, and by non-governmental organisations will at best slow the emergency,” the Vatican’s official daily said.

Last week, the UN World Food Programme has started an airlift of food into the capital Mogadishu. Even though they are taking any possible action, WFP said: “our feeding centers continue to operate in spite of the difficult security situation.”

Despite the Vatican’s official daily opinion, charities have already said that more international donations are needed and relief efforts have been hampered by the combat, and also a ban on some humanitarian agencies by the Islamist group “Al Shabab” which controls much of southern Somalia.

The African Union is scheduling a further donor conference in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia’s capital during this month. The Pope claims a lack of “solid institutions” on the country, but the world is interested in knowing when a solid institution as the Vatican is going to start helping the people in Somalia.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/catholicism/

The article Pope Benedict XVI Speaks on Drought Crisis in Africa appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.