Well,the Pope was in his late 70´s when he got stated on the job so you can´t expect him to continue on forever.Still this is a very shocking announcement and a hard to figure out without a specific health issue.

The Pope is the only moral authority in the world right now and I´m afraid the folks in the Vatican are going to be bullied into picking a PC Pope who will be weak on moral leadership.

The last thing we need is Obama sticking his nose in this but he already has,unfortunately.

Lots of thunder and lightning going on today. Rome, North Korea. But bless the Pope for knowing when he´s not up to the job. Prayers that they pick another strong figure. Perhaps someone from Africa, to confront the Islamist terror and persecution?

Don´t tase me, Bro!

#2,

Christians who are suffering persecution and dying for their faith tend to be in Africa and Asia these days (Islam and oppressive governments have a lot to do with it). A Pope from one of these parts of the world would be a wonderful gift.

Stupid headline. There´s next to nothing in the story about the lightning bolt. How often does lightning strike this steeple? Was there any damage? Did the pope have a comment? Etc. Just another sensationalist, cutesy-cutesy headline.

Yes #5...you´re probably right. But then again...maybe some is sending a message...heh heh heh

...the Pope is aware of the third secret of Fatima, having written on the subject himself. Also knows that it all wasn´t revealed and is smart enough to step down before it all hits the fan...

Interesting that someone was right there with a camera all focused waiting for the lightning to strike. How fortuitous is that? Or is that a screen grab on a constant video of the Vatican facade?

"I´m comin after you, Benedict the XIVV...wait a minute...right there Benedict the XIV...Hold on! You! Benedict the XXVII...oh, for...never mind. I´ll wait for...whoever...tell ´em Lucy sent me...
whoo!"

This Pope has done well at a time when most other men have hung up their skates, and is smart enough to realise at 86 he hasn´t the stamina the positon demands. Let´s hope the College of Cardinals will elect a much younger person who can stand the rigors of travel, leadership,continual appearances and meetings as well as ministering.

God still has plenty of energy.

The third secret of Fatima was that he is the last Christian pope of which he is well aware. I´m thinking the next will be the anti-christ and will work closely with our president.

I can think of only one person with enough intelligence, humility, and wisdom to take John Paul II´s place, Barrack Obama! He will humbly fulfill both positions as head of the Free World and Catholic Church. /s

The Church in the US has been problematically liberal in recent years, although this administration´s behavior has been a wake-up call to Catholic bishops to return to core principles. US cardinals make up about seven percent of the college who will elect the next pope. I´m not too worried that they will somehow go way left. And who exactly would do the bullying to force such a result?
I´ll put my trust in the Lord who promised Peter when He made him the first Pope that "the gates of hell will not prevail against" his Church.

The lightning bolt struck shortly after Cardinal Mahony announced he is looking forward to voting on the new Pope. Mahony had better be careful while he´s there.

I told my wife last night that my memory of the thought process leading up to the selection of our current Pope was the need to create a spacer between John Paul II and the next longer term pope. Part of the concept was to remind Catholics that the true leader is God and that the Popes are merely his successors on earth. A storm is brewing in the world and Pope Benedict has given God the chance to select the new shepherd of his flock.

#1, I don´t agree that the Pope is "the only moral authority" in the world right now. For Catholics, perhaps, but not for the rest of Christendom. That said, I find it very interesting that the actual dome of the Basilica was struck by lightning. The odds of that happening at all, let alone the day after the Pope´s resignation, is startling.

More and more, while aware Christians watch, biblical prophecies about the corruption of the church and of the culture play out in grand fashion and in technicolor.

Perhaps, as the caption under the MUST READ suggests, God has plans for this White House as well. Since God is our only hope against absolute earthly power, I pray He does have plans I will live long enough to see.

Well, I AM worried. As we know all too well in this country, there has been an infiltration of evil influences and force in every known and loved tradition and institution in past decades. The Pope has a very strenuous and difficult job. Evil disguised as benevolence is the worst of evil. We encounter that evil from time to time.

But the Pope has to deal with that evil, up close, all the time.

Lucifer is strong right now. Pray for salvation. And do what you have to do to be worthy of it.

Was somebody just standing outside in the thunderstorm taking pics and just happened to luckily take this shot? ...or was this photo photoshopped?

Just to put a little breakfast smile on my fellow L-Dotters´ faces........ Someone said that now this pope will be known as: "Ex Benedict." :-)

Remember when Cardinal Ratziger was picked to be Pope and became Benedict XVI, one of the main reasons for his choice was given his age -- they specifically wanted someone old who would not last that long.

I´m not a Catholic (big "C") but I am an uncompromising Christian. During college in my philosophy classes, I was always amazed that the Catholic students were the only students who stood up to the liberal professors. I secretly applauded them while I kept my mouth shut (I was a wuss who just wanted to keep my grades high).

My reading hobby for many decades since college days has been WWII German Theater. When I first read Martin-Niemöller´s famous quotation regarding Hitler´s Germany I made a vow to myself to never keep silent in the face of evil:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn´t speak out because I wasn´t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn´t speak out because I wasn´t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn´t speak out because I wasn´t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn´t speak out because I wasn´t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn´t speak out because I wasn´t a Catholic.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

Back then "communists", "socialists", "trade unionists" carried a more benign connotation than those words carry today - they all fought against Hitler. It was the part about coming for the Jews and no one spoke out and then the Catholics and no one spoke out that really hit home.

My vote for a new Pope would be Cardinal Timothy Dolan - for his courage in standing up to Obama. The world must have someone who will - Obama is not God, even though in his delusional mind he may think he is.

So when is Obummer announcing he is running for Pope? And when will Chrissie Matthews slobber that he would be the best Pope ever?

#23, are you asking when one of the strongest candidates ever for the anti-Christ will be elected pope?

As far as that lightening bolt hitting St. Peters ("one of the holiest Catholic churches" - duh, try THE holiest) an hour after the announcement being a sign from God, does anyone think that it took God a whole hour to find out about it?

On the other hand, I remember that it was overcast on the day of JPII´s funeral and, as he was carried out of St. Peters and into the square that day, the sun broke through the clouds and a beam of light struck JPII´s coffin.

Catholic in my heart -- and -- trusting God´s good grace I look forward to another Pope who will be led by his true faith....

AND -- on a political note -- great timing so all the attention won´t be on the dog and pony show in DC....

Exit stage left...................

LZK

False prophet not anti- Christ is what you get from the church...geez.

I think that as soon as the Pope started a Twitter account he was shocked out of his papal shoes by the hate that flowed in from the Leftists worldwide. More than any human being, even the representative of God on earth, could handle.

#21, Just to be clear, the electors don´t give press conferences or "reasons" for their votes. You must mean the "speculation" by people, who have no idea what went on during the conclave, that goes on (ad nauseum) before, during and after a Pope is selected.

... Perhaps one day it will hit the White House ...

It will

Global warming.

OK, speculations are rampant, so I´ll add mine to the soup:

From the moment he was elected, Pope Bneedict made it clear that he hadn´t wanted to be Pope: he said that the announcement was "like a guillotine blade coming down."

Knowing that at his age he´d only have a few years, and knowing all the sotto-voce skulduggery that goes on in any big institution, including the Roman Curia, I´m betting he has been planning for his successor from Day One back in 2005.

He´s a patient man. He´s planned 15 moves ahead, putting the chess pieces in place. Now, announcing RIGHT before Lent, he´s basically forcing the Cardinals to wrap it up quick, because none of them wants to be out of their Diocese during the Holy Season.

Plus, with Benedict still being alive, they can each of them come in to consult with himn, personally, if they want, about who he has in mind as a good successor. And he can undermine the plotters (yes, I think there are plotters, too.)

This --- I hope --- is the long-term architecture of the thing. I think Benedict´s moves are wise, Spirit-guided, brilliant.

Then, Benedict says he is going to retire to a life of intense prayer in a monastic setting.

Something big coming up.

People: pray, pray. pray.

#27, if by ´false prophet´ you actually meant Bride of Christ, then you´re biblically correct, sir.

Benedict XVI was the most conservative Pope we could have hoped for. He provided a counterpoint for Marxists like Obama, Hollande, Castro, Chavez, and so many others from the left in charge of the world. He is a humble man who will not defend himself. Progressives within the Church will tear down his legacy much in the way the Enemedia treated President George W. Bush and Sarah Palin. Ratzinger was a great Pope who brought back the traditional Latin Mass and left all his thoughts in books for posterity.

I believe the lightening strike was a sign from God. Although I don´t know exactly how to interpret it, I still believe it was God speaking.

Remember the description of what occurred at Christ´s death? - the curtain in the temple torn in two, darkness falling over the earth for three hours, tombs torn asunder and the dead rising.

God speaks to us every day in many ways. We usually are too busy to listen and we may not understand what he is trying to tell us.

In the silence of prayer and meditation he helps us begin to understand.

I will miss Pope Benedict XVI. He is a quiet and humble man - he had done great things for the Catholic Church. I trust the Holy Spirit to chose his successor well.

God has already spoken. It is written down and called ´The Bible´.
Lightning strike, what stupidity.
Catholics would do well to read the Bible and ignore their authoritarian priesthood. If they read the Bible they would know every Christian is a ´priest of God´. According to Peter. What he really needed in life was a wife and children. As God commanded Adam.
Lightning..........so laughable.

Jug ears won´t announce he´s running for anything, #23, much less Pope. He´ll announce that he´s named himself Pope by his own executive order and then he´ll add that God has approved his action. Then will come a mailing to the world´s 1.2 billion Catholics telling them to step in line while the world of Islam stands and applauds and laughs.

My husband reminded me last night that a majority of the College of Cardinals were appointed by the conservative B16 himself and that´s a good sign for the future.

My thoughts are as #32. This Pope is brilliant, honorable, and knows the evil geopolitical anti-Christian undercurrent running through the world today. The fact that he will still be alive and can advise on what he already knows is paramount. He is the greatest Christian moral authority in the world today, and even in retirement can be greatly influential to conservative biblical truth as opposed to arrogant atheism. God is working through this good and brave man. Something big is on the way.

#23 -- run for the job? Shouldn´t they just give it to him? He´s so amazing, after all.

... Perhaps one day it will hit the White House ...

--It will

MEH;

It´s highly more likely that lightning strike a person during a round of golf...

Oh man, if only!

Thank you #3 for the great laugh! You just added another year to my life.

Remember, please, this overly dressed monarchial fellow´s name is Ratzinger.
It was Ratzinger, for many prior years, the papal propagandist, the Goebbels of the Church, it was Ratzinger who told the worldwide millions of the flock that "there are no borders, you will receive sanctuary wherever you go". He was the never mentioned inter causal driving force of the invasion of illegals that has over run our borders..... to come here and have millons of babies who are all automatically U.S. citizens

Pope Benedict XVI is a brilliant, compassionate, humble, and deeply devout shepherd. Although a bit dismayed upon first hearing the news of this break in a 600-year tradition, I trust that our Holy Father has correctly discerned God’s will. Plus, it reminds the laity that there is a big difference between little “t” and big “T” Church traditions.

I think #32 and #39 have eloquently explained the lay of the chessboard. The Catholic Church is the only remaining institution of western civilization that thinks and acts in terms of centuries, just like our Islamic enemies. I would not be surprised if the next pope is from Africa, and is someone who has witnessed his people suffer the persecution and slaughter wrought by Islam. He will be the “lightning rod”. It makes me shudder when I contemplate what is known of the Third Secret, and observe that we are only four years away from the 100th anniversary of the visions.

I agree it is very significant that the Holy Father announced his retirement just before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, as well as his plans to devote the rest of his life in cloistered prayer. The laity should follow his example. I had been preparing for Lent in a rather routine way (giving up my ice cream, as always), but now I see the opportunities of this penitential season in a new light. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving: our discipline is our weapon. Happy Lent. We’re headed for an historical Easter!

#44 Yes.

#22, I like Cardinal Dolan, too. But his championing of Dorothy Day, communist and editor of the Catholic Worker publication, bothers me greatly.

#32, Can you reference the quote you atributed to Pope Benedict concerning his election, "like a guillotine blade coming down."? I have never heard it and it doesn´t sound like something he would say.

I believe the "rest of Christendom" term, is one the Holy Roman Catholic Church would not even acknowledge that it defines any outside sector of humanity. That´s because the Holy Roman Catholic Church States that it is the totality of "Christendom"

When the Pope asks for a sign, he really gets a sign. I admire him for not clinging to the papacy beyond his ability to perform the duties. Politicians should take note.

When a pace maker begins to fail and the man is old and ill it makes no sense in times of extreme world peril to hold onto the guiding office when he can no longer carry the load. Benedict´s step down shows he has no
use for earthly titles and is a very humble messenger from GOD.
His task as leader is finished and he is ready to move on.
A lightning strike can show approval too you should know.

P.S. by the way who preserved the Bible for mankind? There were no other Christian denominations at the time.

You know the joke about the 3rd message from the letter in Fatima is #7? We used to joke that it was the bill for the last supper from Schultz´s delicatessen... with interest.

Just for your information, #36, in response to your criticism that Catholics do not read the Bible -- Peter was indeed married, unless you can tell me how one can have a mother-in-law without being married. Matthew 8:14