Public office in Church 3 years? Pope Francis signals again he may ‘step down’ from being pope
This is one of many times since his election in 2013 that Pope Francis has spoken about stepping down from his post as Vicar of Christ on earth.
One thing to note in the whole piece below is: that resignation “should not be considered an exception, but an institution,” that it should be the normal rule. What do you think of it?
Two rules in practice!
Now the rule is all bishops ruling dioceses should: 1. resign at the age of 75; 2. No Cardinal completed 80 should vote in a conclave to elect a new Pope. All follow these rules!
So should not the ruling a diocese – for that matter a parish — be fixed for short perod of 5 or 6 years? When none of these rules were in force some thing happened in my case after being appointed as Editor on New Leader in 1960s.
Resigned after 3 years!
After 3 years I wrote a letter of resignation to Archbishop. The reason behind that thinking was: “The most honest Man in history, JESUS could not survive more than 3 years in public life. So 3 years should be normal rule for any one holding public life in His Church.
Of course my archbishop rejected it, even after giving it a second time, with nice approving words. That the same Archbibhop gave me marching orders even without consulting me, after a few years later, is a different story. For that I never a put up a fight either in word or deed!
Fix it at 3?
So should not, the tenure of public office in the Church be fixed at 3 years is my legitimate question to all – laity-clergy. There are many related issues to discuss. I leave it to your discretion. james kottoor, editor ccv
Please read below LifeSite report on Resignation
By Lisa Bourne,In LIFsITEThu May 17, 2018 – 1:41 pm EST
VATICAN, May 17, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis signaled yet again this week the possibility that he may resign from being pope. He asked morning Mass attendees on Tuesday to pray for priests, bishops, and the pope who, he said, must learn “when it’s time to take his leave and step down.”
Francis said he hopes that all pastors have the grace to know when to step down, and that when they do exit their post, they should not “leave halfway,” as reported by Vatican News.
This is one of many times since his election in 2013 that Pope Francis has spoken about stepping down from his post as Vicar of Christ on earth.
In 2014, he suggested that he would entertain the possibility of resigning if his health failed him, because he would not have the “capacity to govern well.” He suggested he would retire like Pope Benedict did if he felt that he could not “go on.”
Again in 2014 Francis said Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation was a “beautiful gesture of nobility, of humility and courage,” adding that it “cleared a path for later popes to do the same.” Francis also said Benedict’s stepping down “should not be considered an exception, but an institution.”
Then, in 2015, Pope Francis said that the Church should not have “leaders for life” and that there “should be a time limit to positions (in the Church).”
In the five years that he has been pope, Francis has allowed the teachings of heretics to go unchecked while he has refused to answer questions about ambiguities in his own teachings. Last year group of clergy and lay scholars from around the world issued a formal “filial correction” of the pope, accusing him of propagating heresies concerning marriage, the moral life, and reception of the sacraments. Earlier this month, Dutch Cardinal Willem Eijk raised the question that Pope Francis may be part of the Church’s “final trial” before the second coming of Christ.
In his homily this week at the Santa Marta papal residence in the Vatican, the Pope said that St. Paul was “compelled by the Holy Spirit” to leave Ephesus and go to Jerusalem, he said, and this “shows us the pathway for every bishop when it’s time to take his leave and step down.”
“When I read this, I think about myself,” Francis said, “because I am a bishop and I must take my leave and step down.”
Francis said as well that all bishops should trust the Holy Spirit in knowing when it’s time for them to step down. “I am thinking of all bishops,” Francis said. “May the Lord grant all of us the grace to be able to take our leave and step down in this way (as St. Paul did), with that spirit, with that strength, with that love for Jesus Christ and this faith in the Holy Spirit.”
“All pastors must take our leave,” he stated. “There comes a moment where the Lord tells us: go somewhere else, go there, go this way, come to me. And one of the steps a pastor must do is to prepare himself to take good leave, not to leave halfway."
Benedict’s historic renunciation of the papacy in 2013 was the first papal resignation in more than 700 years, when Gregory XII gave up the Chair of Peter in 1415.
Since Benedict relinquished his office there has been significant speculation about whether there was more behind his resignation than just frail health, including possible pressure from factions within theChurch lobbying for a more progressive pope. And questions have continually surfaced over governance and authority in the Church with two concurrent living popes.
