CEJ #4

Alyssa

2/12/13

World

Cukavac, Tyrus

www.scholastic.com/pope

The Pope Resigns

The Catholic religion has had the Pope, Benedict XVI ,for 8 years. He was elected at age 75, almost the oldest Pope ever elected. And in the last few days he has declared that he is resigning. At nearly 86 years old, the Pope feels that he isn’t able to support the Catholic religion with as much power as someone else could. “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to the adequate exercise of the ministry” he says. The Pope’s “job” is basically to be the head of Catholic religion, a master teacher in the subject of church and the most authorized person to speak on behalf of the ministry. When John Paul ll died in 2005, Benedict became the 265th Pope carefully chosen by the Cardinals, the highest regarded Catholic officials after the Pope. When he resigns the whole process of choosing someone to take his place will begin again. Benedict is the second Pope ever to resign after Gregory XII resigned in 1415 to make way for a new leader when the church split. His last day as Pope will be February 28th.

When I read this article, I was surprised to hear that he was resigning until I learned he was almost 86 years old! I remember being in Kindergarten and hearing everyone talk about having a new Pope. This didn’t really have any affect on me in any way though because neither of my parents are Catholic. To be honest, the reference I hear the most of the Pope is on Thanksgiving. When the turkey was finished that night, or bagged up for leftovers, there were two traditions in my family; the breaking of the wishbone and feeding the Pope’s nose to the dog. The “Pope’s nose” was referring to the butt part of the bird and our black labrador got it every year , even a week before she passed last November. This doesn't have to do much with the actual Pope, just something that this article reminded me of.