Pope Benedict Final Speech Leaves Papacy in ‘choppy Waters’

Press TV
February 28, 2013

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/27/291149/pope-leaves-papacy-in-choppy-waters/

Pope Benedict XVI waves to the audience during his final papal speech on February 27, 2013. (File photo)

Pope Benedict XVI has given his final papal address amid the Vatican’s decades-long scandalous record of pedophilia, sexual abuse, theft and bribery.

Outgoing Pope Benedict XVI held his final all-purpose speech in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Wednesday, reminding the 1.5 billion Roman Catholic followers that he will pray for and try to look past the Vatican’s history of transgression.

“Then there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep,” said the 85-year-old high priest, while describing the tumultuous role of the papacy.

Pope Benedict confessed that “in recent months, I felt that my strength had decreased”, that I was too weak to carry out the duties of the Church along with the vices “that seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life… in a time in which many speak of its decline.”

Opponents criticized Benedict for failing to mend the Church’s decades-long history of worldwide scandalous wrongdoing including theft, bribery, rampant pedophilia and allegations of covering up sexual abuse by priests in order to protect its own reputation.

A report published last week by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica said that the real reason the pontiff decided to resign was in light of an internal church probe that informed him about a series of blackmails, grafts and underground gay sex in the Vatican.

According to the report, three cardinals reported their findings to the pope on December 17, 2012, in two red-leather bound volumes, almost 300-pages long, which revealed the existence of a “network” of gay prelates in the Vatican and contained “an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish” inside the Holy See.

Moreover, David Gibson, a journalist who wrote the latest biography on Benedict, said the Pope's resignation was “most certainly the result of numerous factors, mainly revolving around the internal problems of the Vatican, of which sexual shenanigans were likely one.”

This comes as the United Kingdom’s highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has resigned this week amid allegations of inappropriate behavior.

Sexual abuses in the Catholic Church arose in the 1980s and hit a major crisis in 2002 when systematic cover-ups were exposed.

Other reports emerged in the Italian media in June 2012, linking the Vatican with Sicilian mafia heads, specifically citing the head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, in his dismissal along with claims of power struggles and corruption within the Holy See.

Two weeks ago, Pope Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to announce his resignation, citing an inability to carry out his papal duties, while also apologizing for the widespread sexual abuse in the church.

Benedict is scheduled to leave office at 8 p.m. local time Thursday when he will start a life of seclusion.

Church law states that the pope’s seal and ring is to be destroyed, just as if he had died.

Pope Benedict XVI has given his final papal address amid the Vatican’s decades-long scandalous record of pedophilia, sexual abuse, theft and bribery.

Outgoing Pope Benedict XVI held his final all-purpose speech in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Wednesday, reminding the 1.5 billion Roman Catholic followers that he will pray for and try to look past the Vatican’s history of transgression.

“Then there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep,” said the 85-year-old high priest, while describing the tumultuous role of the papacy.

Pope Benedict confessed that “in recent months, I felt that my strength had decreased”, that I was too weak to carry out the duties of the Church along with the vices “that seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life… in a time in which many speak of its decline.”

Opponents criticized Benedict for failing to mend the Church’s decades-long history of worldwide scandalous wrongdoing including theft, bribery, rampant pedophilia and allegations of covering up sexual abuse by priests in order to protect its own reputation.

A report published last week by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica said that the real reason the pontiff decided to resign was in light of an internal church probe that informed him about a series of blackmails, grafts and underground gay sex in the Vatican.

According to the report, three cardinals reported their findings to the pope on December 17, 2012, in two red-leather bound volumes, almost 300-pages long, which revealed the existence of a “network” of gay prelates in the Vatican and contained “an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish” inside the Holy See.

Moreover, David Gibson, a journalist who wrote the latest biography on Benedict, said the Pope's resignation was “most certainly the result of numerous factors, mainly revolving around the internal problems of the Vatican, of which sexual shenanigans were likely one.”

This comes as the United Kingdom’s highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has resigned this week amid allegations of inappropriate behavior.

Sexual abuses in the Catholic Church arose in the 1980s and hit a major crisis in 2002 when systematic cover-ups were exposed.

Other reports emerged in the Italian media in June 2012, linking the Vatican with Sicilian mafia heads, specifically citing the head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, in his dismissal along with claims of power struggles and corruption within the Holy See.

Two weeks ago, Pope Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to announce his resignation, citing an inability to carry out his papal duties, while also apologizing for the widespread sexual abuse in the church.

Benedict is scheduled to leave office at 8 p.m. local time Thursday when he will start a life of seclusion.

Church law states that the pope’s seal and ring is to be destroyed, just as if he had died.

The 117 cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church's conclave must start the process of choosing the new pontiff between 15 and 20 days after the position becomes vacant.