Vatican reveals pope has pacemaker

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 12 Februari 2013 | 20.01

Is the hand of God at play in Pope Benedict's shock resignation?

THE Vatican has acknowledged for the first time that Pope Benedict XVI has had a pacemaker for years and that its battery was replaced a few months ago in secret.

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Benedict had the pacemaker installed "a long time" before he became pope in 2005. He called the latest medical procedure "routine".

It was the first time the Vatican has mentioned a papal pacemaker.

Italian daily Il Sole 24 said the Pope had the pacemaker procedure less than three months ago in a Rome hospital and did not miss any public appearances.

Benedict is resigning on Feb. 28 because he says he has become too infirm to handle the burdens of the papacy. He will become the first pope to step down in six centuries. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new Pope before the end of March.

The 85-year-old and 265th Pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals.

In his own words: The Pope's resignation

"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry," Pope Benedict XVI told the meeting.

"In order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me," he said.

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Blessed are the pacemakers for Pope Benedict XVI. Picture: AP

"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is," he said.

The resignation was a bolt from the blue literally and figuratively as global news agency AFP caught a spectacular image of a lightning bolt striking The Vatican, just hours after Benedict's resignation. The spectacular image was a fitting end to a day that had caught everyone at The Vatican off guard.

A group of cardinals will soon go into lockdown in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope.

Pope Benedict XVI will leave behind a Catholic Church grappling with crises from child abuse scandals involving priests to confronting radical Islam as well as struggling to find its place in an increasingly secular Western world.

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He was elected pope on April 19, 2005 at a time when anger at clerical abuse was at its height in parts of Europe and North America, shaking the faith of many ordinary Catholics.

In 2008, he became the first pope to express "shame" over the abuse and to meet victims.

In 2010, he issued an unprecedented apology to Ireland for chronic abuse, appealing to any remaining guilty clergy to "submit yourselves to the demands of justice".

Pope Benedict XVI has announced his decision to resign from office, the first pontiff to do so in nearly six hundred years.

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In another dramatic move, he ordered a full-scale reform of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order that Pope John Paul II had championed whose founder for years sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children.

However, Benedict didn't discipline church leaders who kept guilty priests in ministry or hid claims from parents and police.

He was also criticised for failing to realise the scale of the problem during his previous 24-year career as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the main doctrinal body of the Church.

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The Punch: Benedict's complicated legacy

Among his achievements, Pope Benedict XVI gave the world its first Australian Catholic saint, Mary MacKillop, ending an 85-year campaign by Australian Catholics to have her canonised.

Widely seen as an ultra-conservative, the first German pope in history has proved in many ways more flexible and modern than his Polish predecessor.

Catholics in Spain, France and Poland express shock and disbelief at Pope's resignation though some appear to welcome the move. Sunita Rappai reports.

He was the first pope to speak about the possibility of using a condom, although only in the very specific case of a sex worker with AIDS.

In a book of interviews that came out in 2010 entitled Light of the World, he said this could be a first step towards a "more humane sexuality".

He has also avoided giving moral lessons and has spoken - often in a very personal way - on matters of faith.

Benedict focused his papacy on restoring the Catholic Church's identity, improving the coherence of its message and pushing for a respectful dialogue with other faiths and with atheists.

He has seen himself as a source of stability amid lingering uncertainties following the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s and the pontificate of John Paul II, which was marred by the late pope's long illness and his hugely conservative outlook.

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As pope, he preferred to be surrounded by prelates who were loyal to the faith and he was always distant from the intrigues of the Curia, which eventually caught up with him last year.

The "Vatileaks" scandal in which hundreds of confidential papal memos were leaked to the press by his once loyal butler Paolo Gabriele revealed serious tensions in the Vatican, particularly between conservatives and progressives, advocates of transparency and of secrecy.

Pope Benedict XVI waves to pilgrims as he passes the Sydney Opera House during World Youth Day activities in 2008. Picture: AP

Benedict's set a precedent for others

A reserved man, people who have met him say Benedict is attentive and hospitable in person.

He has been keen to communicate through new media, becoming the first ever pope with a Twitter account.

He has said he believes the Church will be marginalised if it does not keep up with the times.

At the same time, he has also said Christianity will only remain credible in the modern world if it is demanding.

A smaller and more confident Church is preferable to a vague community of faith, he has said.

Concerning internal reforms, he has ruled out any change on the rule of priestly celibacy.

He also opened the door to conservative Anglicans opposed to the ordination of women and gay people.

At the same time, he increased dialogue with Orthodox believers and with Protestants.

Germans are divided over Monday's announcement Pope Benedict will resign at the end of February due to deteriorating health. Jessica Gray reports.

Initially shunned by Muslims over some misunderstood and controversial comments linking the religion to violence, he multiplied his appeals in recent years for a peaceful coexistence between the world's two great monotheistic religions.

He has however been less of a diplomat than his predecessor John Paul II, calling for greater openness in China and peace in the Middle East with little tangible effect.

Pope Benedict had hinted in a book of interviews in 2010 that he might resign if he felt he was no longer able to carry out his duties.

The last Pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

Prior to Pope Gregory XII, the only other pope to have resigned citing he felt unable to fulfill office was Celestine V in 1296 who stepped down just months into his appointment to office saying he was not physically capable to continue and he yearned a simpler life.

Popes who stepped down

Benedict called his choice "a decision of great importance for the life of the church".

The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn't have to be observed.

There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner, as was the case when Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict XVI looks at a lion cub as thousands of participants to the "Pilgrimage to Rome" festival gather at the Vatican in December 2012. Picture: AFP

The Pope's brother, Georg Ratzinger, says the pontiff had been advised by his doctor not to take any more transatlantic trips and had been considering stepping down for months.

Many religious observers noted Pope Benedict was in the Vatican at his predecessor Pope John Paul II's side as the latter slipped over many months toward death.

The process of choosing a new Pope

It was seeing the John Paul decline from almost having a global rock star attraction to being unable to continue in office but remaining in office as was tradition.

Many believe this had preyed on his mind that no one again would want to see a church in effect without a functioning pope.

Benedict came to the role at a relatively late age although then not in poor health, many recognised this had changed over recent times.

Talking from his home in Regensburg to the news agency dpa, Georg Ratzinger said his brother was having increasing difficulty walking and that his resignation was part of a "natural process".

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This July 10, 2009 photo shows US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama meeting the Pope. Picture: AP

"His age is weighing on him," the 89-year-old said of his 85-year-old brother. "At this age my brother wants more rest."

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi in a hastily arranged press conference said all were taken by surprise by the announcement but clearly Pope Benedict XVI also felt he no longer had the "rigour, clarity and energy" to go on.

"The pope caught us a bit by surprise," he said of the sudden announcement.

Last night it was revealed his doctor had told him he was no longer fit for transatlantic travel. It was at this point he began to think about stepping down.

Tributes were coming in from around the world last night for him, many expressing respect for what was a very difficult decision.

Leaders respect, regret Pope's decision

Contenders to be his successor include Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Canadian head of the Vatican's office for bishops.

Longshots include Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. Although Cardinal Dolan is popular and backs the Pope's conservative line, the general thinking is that the Catholic Church doesn't need a pope from a "superpower".

Given half of the world's Catholics live in the global south, there will once again be arguments for a pope to come from the developing world.

As Pope Benedict prepares to step down this month, some suggest the Roman Catholic Church may choose a non-European leader for the first time. Jessica Gray reports.

Cardinal Antonio Tagle, the archbishop of Manila, has impressed many Vatican watchers, but at 56 and having only been named a cardinal last year, he is considered too young.

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana is one of the highest-ranking African cardinals at the Vatican, currently heading the Vatican's office for justice and peace.

All cardinals under age 80 are allowed to vote in the conclave, the secret meeting held in the Sistine Chapel where cardinals cast ballots to elect a new pope. As per tradition, the ballots are burned after each voting round; black smoke that snakes out of the chimney means no pope has been chosen, while white smoke means a pope has been elected.

The pontiff had been due to attend World Youth Day in July in Rio de Janeiro; by then his successor will have been named and will presumably make the trip.

Benedict himself raised the possibility of resigning if he were simply too old or sick to continue on, when he was interviewed in 2010 for the book Light of the World.

"If a pope clearly realises that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign," Benedict said.

- with AP and AFP

Catholics outside the Vatican and papal aides alike reacted with surprise Monday to Pope Benedict's announcement that he will step down from the papacy. Mana Rabiee reports.


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