The Roman Catholic Church may fall into a crisis in the coming days with the death of Pope Benedict.
Pope Benedict was the first Pope to “retire” in almost 600 years. He also was the oldest Pope at the time of his death.
NBC News reported yesterday:
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the Bavarian-born theologian whose conservative Roman Catholicism earned him the nickname “God’s Rottweiler,” and who shocked his flock by suddenly resigning the papacy after just eight years, died Saturday, the Vatican said.
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He was 95.
Benedict was the longest-living pope, having surpa ssed Pope Leo XIII in September 2020…
…Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger on April 16, 1927, in Marktl, Germany, Benedict, the son of police officer Josef and Maria, grew up in a Germany infected by Nazism.
Like his father, Benedict opposed Hitler. But at age 14, he was forced to join the Hitler Youth. And two years later, while still in the seminary, the future pope was conscripted into the German army and sent to the front.
With the Allies on the verge of victory, Benedict deserted and went home. After a brief stint in a prisoner-of-war camp, he returned to the seminary and, along with his brother, Georg, was ordained a priest on June 29, 1951.
Unlike most priests, Benedict logged little time in parishes. Instead, he embarked on an academic career and found himself moving to the conservative right as German campuses moved to the liberal left in the 1960s.
The whole Catholic world was shocked when Benedict decided to step down as Pope. Many Catholics believed that there was something sinister taking place when he resigned in 2013.
Although we’re unaware if Archbishop Vigano has said much about Pope Benedict’s death, he did share some observations about Benedict’s resignation.
These observations were captured in a series of tweets on Twitter. The tweets even reference information on corrupt John Podesta’s emails regarding the Church.
Vigano shared about conspirators within the church.
These conspirators referred to by Vigano will do anything for power, much like the corrupt actors running the US today.
Robert Spencer asked who is now Pope after Benedict’s death?
The Vatican issued the announcement on Saturday morning: “With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible.” This comes three days after Pope Francis announced that the 95-year-old former pontiff was “very ill.” For the first time in 600 years, there will be no conclave to choose a new bishop of Rome after a pope has died, for in 2013, Benedict became the first pope in six centuries to resign from office rather than serve until his death. But observers both inside and outside the Catholic Church have long noted that Pope Benedict’s relative traditionalism contrasted sharply with Francis’ uncompromising wokeness and trend-chasing, and questions have persisted in the eight years since Francis arrived on the scene as to the validity of Benedict’s resignation. So now who’s the pope?
Catholic author Matthew Hanley noted in October that Italian journalist Andrea Cionci, after “years of intensive investigation,” contended “Benedict XVI remains the sole legitimate Pope and, moreover, that he has been communicating this fact in a particular manner, as circumstances allow,” although Benedict was “limited in his ability to communicate ‘with the outside world from his situation of confinement.’” Cionci, according to Hanley, asserted that “not only is Francis a usurping anti-Pope, but he is one ‘whose objective is to demolish Catholicism.’”
Andrea Cionci was by no means the first to suggest both that Francis was a destructive force and that Benedict was the legitimate pope. Nor was he the last.
We shall see what transpires over these next few days. Those in the church who believe that Pope Benedict was the true Pope will likely want to bring together the church to vote on a new Pope. However, those who back Pope Francis will not agree with this action.
The church has only three weeks to decide. Let’s see what happens.