Bishop Santa to Pope Benedict Resign, PRWeb, August 2, 2010

Bishop Santa to Pope Benedict: Resign!

PRWeb
August 2, 2010

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/08/prweb4339544.htm

Bishop Santa Claus to Pope Benedict XVI: Resign! The recent overwhelmingly positive public response to Bishop Santa Claus's taking the Pope to task for his continued moral failure to address urgent children’s issues within the Roman Catholic Church prompts him to call for the Pope to resign.

The recent overwhelmingly positive public response to Bishop Santa Claus's taking the Pope to task for his continued moral failure to address urgent children’s issues within the Roman Catholic Church prompts him to call for Pope Benedict XVI to resign.

Bishop Santa believes, "The handwriting is on the wall. The Pope will be called to account." Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand an Oregon appellate court’s decision to deny the Vatican immunity from testifying, regarding an alleged pedophile priest. In addition, Germany, Ireland, Austria, and Belgium are aggressively investigating alleged child abuse by priests. It is only a matter of time before the Pope and Vatican are compelled by law to submit to criminal investigation, perhaps resulting in the Pope’s arrest.

An Atlantic Wire article by Heather Horn (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/The-Popes-Resignation-A-Possibility-2992) indicates that many already are publicly taking the Pope to task. For example, Maureen McCullough calls for penance to demonstrate serious repentance; Andrew Sullivan proposes an end to celibacy; Sinead O’Connor insists on a ‘full criminal investigation’ of the Vatican; BishopAccountability.org and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) are helping hold many abusers accountable for their crimes; Richard Dawkins wants the Pope arrested in the UK for ‘crimes against humanity;’ and, Anura Guruge blogs at http://popes-and-papacy.com/wordpress/?p=380 that “Canon 332 S2 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law explicitly permits a Pope to resign.”

Bishop Santa notes, "There is precedent: Pope Gregory XII resigned in 1415, as did Pope Celestine V in 1294." Ostensibly, Pope Gregory XII resigned in order to end the Western Schism, for what he perceived as the greater good of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI has said that Celestine V returned to being a hermitic ascetic monk and praised his simplicity and humility. Celestine was declared a saint in 1313.

"The vast majority of wonderful priests and nuns are suffering from guilt by association with the Pope and some Bishops and Cardinals," Bishop Santa says, "It is long past the time the Pope and Vatican should and could have sent a clear message to parishioners and clergy of all denominations. No one is above the law. We are to love our children, not abuse them." Bishop Santa calls upon the Pope, "to demonstrate his love for God’s children by submitting himself, clergy, and the Vatican to criminal investigation of allegations of child abuse and, as penance for moral failure, to resign as Pope."