Pope to Resign (Page 4)

seriously?  the church isn't being persecuted.  anytime someone exercises their personal freedom or individual rights that don't coincide with the church the christians flip out.  not getting your way isn't persecution. get over it.

on that note, i heard he actually resigned for a role in star wars episode VII

That's true, not getting your way isn't persecution.
However, persecution of Catholics is taking place at this time.  

There some twenty something churches throughout the world, all of which are correctly called Catholic. The Roman Catholic Church is just one of them.

One of those churches is the Coptic Church. Copts are being persecuted in Egypt at this time.

The West including the media are generally silent about this.  I think it's because it doesn't fit the narrative of the Catholic Church being the "Empire". I think a lot of people who are part of that narrative would chuckle and agree with that meme you posted.  The reality though is very different.

Here's just one article from Patheos regarding the Coptic persecutions:

As we drove, Sami told me about the persecution Copts endure at the hands of Egyptian Salafists. Salafists are Muslims who want an Islamist government in which the harshest interpretations of Islamic law (shariah) are privileged at the expense of both non-Muslims and progressive-minded Muslims. “Things had been less worse for us under Mubarak,” Sami said. Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s authoritarian ruler until his ouster in the revolution, had suppressed Islamist radicals. But now, said Sami, the Salafists feel bold enough to burn churches, incite anti-Coptic riots and call openly for the expulsion of Christians.

Sure.  

Chaldeans are Catholic as well, although not part of the Roman Church and not Latin Rite.  There's actually been some speculation that the next pope could come from a rite other than the Latin Rite.  Not probable, but possible.

Most of North Africa and Asia Minor was Catholic through the eighth century or so.  Then things changed radically.  The dynamics that brought that change about are still in play.  The Crusades were a legitimate defensive campaign against aggression and persecution; aside from the 4th Crusade which was not moral in its intent.  

Santayana said, "those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

The Church could use another guy like him that is for sure.  Wojtyla was 58 when he became pope, no wonder he had people eating out of the palm of his hand.  I mean it takes some time to work into that role.  Turkson is 64.  By the time he gets going he is going to be on his way out.

I remember when Ratzinger became pope there was this thing about how he is just there temporarily to Shepard the church through some stuff and the next guy would be the real next leader, guess the pundits got the first part of that right.

I don't think Benedict ever wanted to be pope. He wanted to retire twenty years ago, but JPII asked him to stay on. I think you're right about the temporary nature of his pontificate. He probably saw that as well.

I wonder if in an earlier age, before electronic media and before the requirement that the office be one played out on a world stage, Benedict would have remained pope until his death but have lived out the end of his life as a monk.  The monastic life seems to be what he is being called to now. The pope is not really the same as a CEO.  However, modern life has changed the responsibilities of the ministry.

Cardinal Tagle is someone that might meet your criterion. 56 years old from Manila.  He's considered papabile and there's a buzz about him going on as well.

“He (Tagle) is often compared with John Paul II in personality and charisma, and has also been closely associated with Benedict through his work at the International Theological Commission,” wrote the LA Times about Tagle.

“Tagle’s close alignment to Pope Benedict, an uncompromising conservative on social and theological issues, could work in his favor,” wrote Reuters.

(Tagle.jpg)

It's wonderful, isn't it?

I think we can lose sight here in the US that the Church is worldwide, is alive, and is growing.  We have our own particular struggles here, but perhaps a pope from the third world would help us get our priorities straight again.

Along those lines, I ran across the TS Elliot poem Choruses from The Rock today.  I think it's poignant for our time and place. One verse says:

But it seems that something has happened that has never happened
before: though we know not just when, or why, or how, or where.
Men have left GOD not for other gods, they say, but for no God; and this has
never happened before
That men both deny gods and worship gods, professing first Reason,
And then Money, and Power, and what they call Life, or Race, or Dialectic.
The Church disowned, the tower overthrown, the bells upturned, what have we to do
But stand with empty hands and palms turned upwards
In an age which advances progressively backwards?

Catholics and Christians are persecuted throughout the world, but it doesn't fit the media narrative.  Remember, not all countries have freedom of religion as part of their respective constitutions.

That is not to say that other religions or other beliefs are not persecuted.

I am from the Maronite Rite in the Catholic Church and not of the Roman Catholic  rite.  I think it would be great to have someone from outside the Roman rite.

A brief description of the rites:

http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/catholic_rites_and_churches.htm

I don't know, but that sounds familiar.

My best buddies through high school were Maronite Catholics.  Their moms would always feed me kibbe and mishi mafoof (sp?) Great bunch of guys.  The pollster John Zogby comes from the same community in upstate/central NY.

A terrific young priest here in the Philly Arch Diocese who until recently resided at our parish told me that he's the only arabic speaking priest in the Diocese and so has been saying Mass at a church of the Maronite Rite. He'd say Mass in the Latin Rite at our church and then run down to South Philly to say Mass in the Maronite Rite for that community.  I think he grew up in an Italian and Lebanese family.  At least I think he says Mass in the Maronite Rite. I looked at that link you provided to EWTN, and it says the liturgical language is Aramaic, so maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

I was thinking today what that might be like to have a non-Latin Rite pope.  As Supreme Pontiff it would be seamless.  It would certainly bring the members of the dominant Latin Rite Roman Church into a deeper understanding of Catholicism and what we are as a church. I wonder though how it would work at the local diocesan level since he is Bishop of Rome and the See is Latin Rite if I understand it correctly.  Of course, what does the Pope do now at the local level.  I think auxiliary bishops tend to diocesan responsibilities.

#poprah2013 Oprah has my vote.

Our Mass is said in English basically, but it's a Maronite Mass.  In other areas, it could be said in Aramaic.  It's very similar to the Latin Mass, but also very different.  I grew up going to both, so I can make the correlation pretty easily.  The consecration is done in Aramaic, which is the original language that was spoken at the  time of Jesus.  The Maronites have a  long history with Rome  Pope Gregory XIII founded a Maronite college in Rome to train clergy.  The Maronite Catholic Church is the only Eastern church that never left communion with Rome.

I think a Pope from another Rite would definitely be beneficial, and open up other views for the church as a whole.  We will see.

Here's a list of all of the Cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave. The next pope will probably come from this group.

So how about Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch?

My understanding is that if St. Peter had died in Antioch instead of in Rome, Antioch would have been the Holy See. 

(Patriarch_Bechara_Boutros_Rai_of_the_Maronite_Church_Credit_ACN_2_CNA_US_Catholic_News_8_17_12.jpg)

So Cardinals who are older than 80 may not vote in the Conclave. Can they still attend, just not vote?

He is also the keeper of the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch"!