# So the Pope Is Resigning **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 11, 2013, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960 "2013-02-11T11:13:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Shark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Shark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/141 "2013-02-13T19:23:30Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > They say it’s as yet unclear what his exact title will be afterward. Maybe they could revive “antipope”? No, he really, really needs to be referred to as ex-Benedict. Come on people…Say it out loud. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/142 "2013-02-13T20:16:59Z")
> [@Shark](#): > > No, he really, really needs to be referred to as ex-Benedict. Come on people…Say it out loud. After all, he is going on a long hollandaise… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/143 "2013-02-13T20:20:15Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I doubt we’ll hear much from the ex pope. I may be mistaken, but I thought I read somewhere he was going to a cloistered community. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/144 "2013-02-13T21:08:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > No!!! > > Then if he shakes hands with the new Pope, you’ll have mutual annhilation, with the release of an enormous amount of energy and spontaneous particle-antiparticle creation, obliterating Vatican City, Rome, and a good chucnk of central Italy. > Worse, it will give credence to a Dan Brown book. Damn. I was for it until the last line. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/145 "2013-02-13T23:43:53Z")
I apologize if this has been posted already, but it seems that a bolt of lightning actually struck the St Peter’s Dome the day the Pope announced that he was quitting. [http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/world/a-sign-from-god-lightning-hits-vatican-as-pope-benedict-announces-resignation/story-fnd12peo-1226576196463](http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/world/a-sign-from-god-lightning-hits-vatican-as-pope-benedict-announces-resignation/story-fnd12peo-1226576196463) > [@](#): > > …just hours after the Pontiff dropped the bombshell that he no longer had the health and vigour to carry out his duties as leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics, a freak thunderstorm swept over Rome and a lighting bolt struck the basilica of St.Peter’s dome. It sounds like the Onion, but as far as I can tell, the story and the pictures are real. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/146 "2013-02-13T23:47:44Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > I apologize if this has been posted already, but it seems that a bolt of lightning actually struck the St Peter’s Dome the day the Pope announced that he was quitting. > > [http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/world/a-sign-from-god-lightning-hits-vatican-as-pope-benedict-announces-resignation/story-fnd12peo-1226576196463](http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/world/a-sign-from-god-lightning-hits-vatican-as-pope-benedict-announces-resignation/story-fnd12peo-1226576196463) > > It sounds like the Onion, but as far as I can tell, the story and the pictures are real. Yeah, there’s been talk about it elsewhere. My theory was that it was actually Force Lightning from Pope Palpatine’s duel with the Cardinals over the succession. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/147 "2013-02-14T00:14:08Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Yeah, there’s been talk about it elsewhere. My theory was that it was actually Force Lightning from Pope Palpatine’s duel with the Cardinals over the succession. You are awesome ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/148 "2013-02-14T00:16:01Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > You are awesome 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/149 "2013-02-14T06:38:10Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > They say it’s as yet unclear what his exact title will be afterward. Maybe they could revive “antipope”? > [@Senegoid](#): > > Pontifex emeritus? Dowager Pope? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/150 "2013-02-14T06:46:30Z")
The Un-Pope? Pope Classic? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/151 "2013-02-14T07:45:31Z")
The Cardinal Formerly Known as Pope? ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/152 "2013-02-14T09:28:14Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Just because his mind isn’t going doesn’t mean he’s up to the job. My grandmother died two months ago – she was 94, but her mind was still there. > > You don’t have to be senile to ready to retire. Being the Pope is probably a mega-stressful job. > > He’s also a world leader with a ton of influence on society. Like him or hate him, the pope IS an important figure. I don’t doubt the Pope is important to Catholics, but there are many people that are probably more important to the world and don’t get half the attention. It’s like Kate. Who cares if she is producing a future monarch? Few people outside the chattering class give British royalty much thought these days, and their influence in the real world is negligible. Unfortunately, the media are treating it liker the second coming. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/153 "2013-02-14T15:06:09Z")
He can’t go back to being a Cardinal. The church doesn’t believe in Re-incardinalation. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/154 "2013-02-14T15:11:16Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > He can’t go back to being a Cardinal. The church doesn’t believe in Re-incardinalation. It’s not just that – you can’t insert a cardinal number between two existing ones. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/155 "2013-02-14T15:17:11Z")
That’s it! Our new Pope, Pope Wisserteen! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/156 "2013-02-14T15:19:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s not just that – you can’t insert a cardinal number between two existing ones. Can they make him an Ordinal? After all, he was already the Sixteenth… ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/157 "2013-02-14T19:41:27Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I really hope for his sake that the next successor is not taking the name Boniface. There is someone else on the Dope as dorky as I am! Because that was pretty much my reaction too 🙂 That, and wanting to go read Dante again. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/158 "2013-02-16T00:31:38Z")
Meet the new pope, same as the old pope. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/159 "2013-02-19T18:26:00Z")
I think that, practically speaking, that’s what they’ll be called: Old Pope and New Pope. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960/160 "2013-02-19T18:36:47Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > I think that, practically speaking, that’s what they’ll be called: Old Pope and New Pope. How about _New Pope_ and _Pope Classic_? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-pope-is-resigning/649960.md?page=9)