Are my concerns about the Pope valid?

When Pope Benedict of the Catholic church retired a few years back,I had serious concerns that his action would start a precedent where the current Pope would retire if they simply didnt feel like doing the job anymore.At the time,I was told that I was being silly.Now Francis,the current Pope,has been making comments to the effect that he may feel compelled to give up his tiltle in a few years because,as he put it"I may be too old to keep up with the job!"Look,whether you like or dislike Francis-I personally feel that he is a good person but an overly politicized Pope-the Papacy is NOT supposed to "serve their term"like an elected offical;they agreed to serve their post FOR LIFE.If they are unwilling to make that commitment then they shouldn't agree to be the Pope!Am I right in thinking that playing musical chairs with the Papacy will only degrade the position?

HootyTheNightOwl

You are wrong.

The papacy is a very demanding job and when you consider that popes like Benedict and Francis are already old men before they came into papacy... is it really fair and reasonable to expect them to continue with the role up until their death???

Putting aside the papacy aspect of the job for a while, these popes are still men. They will have age related degeneration of their bodies in at least one way or another. Sometimes, maybe their legacy is to change what they can change for the Church, then step aside to allow someone who is better able than they are to carry the Church into the future.

Rather than judging them for not remaining pope for the rest of their lives, I try to accept that God and Jesus are working through these popes to give them the strength to change what they can and the courage to say when they can't do anymore and step aside for the new pope - whoever he may be.

I can't imagine that it would be easy for any pope emeritus to go from being the pope and constantly in the limelight to becoming pope emeritus and basically living as a hermit somewhere in an attempt to not draw attention from the current pope to yourself.

MartinII · 70-79, M

I agree. Compare and contrast the Queen of England, in her mid-90s and in naturally failing health, but continuing to do her job, with appropriate delegation, as she promised to do when her father died 70 years ago.

MissBrittany · F

No she isn’t. England stopped being a Royal Realm in 1707. England is no longer an independent country. I guess it’s something you Americans, are not taught in school. @MartinII