Of God and Vatican!

Of God and Vatican: That the world may Know that God is Almighty!

He was Pope!  Why did he resign? 

There's been rife talks of mortal illness, frailty and encroaching dementia. People have even said the resignation is an act of humility. I keep reading of the so called papal resignation some 600 years ago but to be candid, there hasn't been any resignation, what we had were rival popes and one was even a psychopath. These popes were sacked by the council of bishops to get back to one pope at a time, since then, every pope has died in office. When a pope dies or in this case, resigned, the top echelon of the papacy called the Curia must loose their jobs( I HAVE NEVER HEARD OR READ OF THAT UNTIL LAST WEEK). Everyone who works at the highest level of bureaucracy must go. So as Pope Benedict left two weeks ago, all the top priests at the Curia also left. Question thus is, did Pope Benedict sacrifice himself? If yes, why? About 2 years ago, Pope Benedict commissioned a report and it came back on his table titled "The Filth"- a coded word for "The Paedophile Priest". The report specifically highlighted that the "filth" has entered the Curia. It came as a shock to the Pope. He had to go. He couldn't stand it. He had to pave way for a new leader and knowing fully well that his resignation would rid the Curia of all them. He offered himself as the proverbial sacrificial lamb! The Pope resigned.  

I wouldn't want to bore you with papacy rhetorics so I'd do this in 3 bullet points. 

The Gang Cardinals

Pope Benedict was shocked at the level of rot at the Vatican. He realises that the Curia must be reformed. A big task! I have a feeling that Pope Benedict felt he was too old to clean up the bad eggs and far too way implicated in the menace. He had to resign to make way for a much younger Pope(untainted by the scandal). According to reports, the Curia are usually quickly reappointed after the death of each Pope but this is going to be different. There are various departments within the Curia that must go to pave way for newness. The Holy Inquisition which under Cardinal Ratzinger(Pope Benedict) failed to deal with paedophile priests.  The Vatican Bank, known rather cunningly as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) was heavily involved in a scandal in the 80s for links with the Italian Mafia. The church of God? 

The Vatican Bank

The former president of the Vatican Bank, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus granted an interview some years back stating categorically that he once paid $250M from the Vatican pensions accounts to pay a fine, levied by the Italian government against the church for financial misdemeanours. Just this past January, Italy's central bank suspended credit card activities inside the Vatican for anti money laundering reasons. 

Paedophile Priests

In March 2010, a 29 year old chorister in St Peters was sacked because he allegedly brought in a male prostitute, one of them a seminarian for a Papal gentleman-in-waiting who was also a senior member of The Curia Department that oversees the Vatican's worldwide missionary activities. There are also reports that some of the priests are active gay men letting off steam. They frequent saunas and safe houses. There are also fresh allegations of covering up by Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles just as we heard of Cardinal Sean Brady of Ireland. Why are these atrocious acts constantly covered up?Reports are rife that there may still be some shocking revelations in the coming weeks. 

Pope Benedict in one extraordinary move checkmates the Vatican by resigning and in this swoop, gets rid of all bad eggs at the Curia. But what happens next? How are we sure we won't have a repeat of the rot? 

As the cardinals gather in the locked pristine chapel tomorrow to begin a marathon deliberation to choose the next pope. I ask and beg them to put God first. Prayerfully consider the Cross of Jesus Christ and the blood shed on Calvary. I beg them to forget about the divides which are:The Reformers, The Conservatives and The Devolutionists. I ask that God be the central theme putting into consideration "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  Phillipians 3:10-11. ESV. 

God bless the new Pope as we await his arrival within the next 72 hours. Amen.