For a new Pope, someone on another forum suggested Superman.
Yawn. Why does the media treat this as if it’s important? It’s as big a turn off as Kate’s baby!
Princesses (as a group) get pregnant every 20 years or so - this is the first Pope to resign in 600 years.
Brian
This was my immediate thought.
I thought the politically correct term was “vacillating noble”.
(Damn you, Avalon Hill!!!)
Well, the Pope doesn’t work in a vacuum. Doddering on is what every Pope has done; his staff and advisers just step in more heavily. And they act in accord with what they determine would be his wishes if it goes that far. Popes before this Pope weren’t struck down in their prime, e.g., John Paul II certainly didn’t die in the saddle. He had been in the saddle bag for a while with someone else guiding the horse.
Indeed. BBC is giving this blanket coverage. I thought Britain burned Catholics?
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.
That’s the opinion of one guy based on one event. We’re talking about an 85-year-old man doing a strenuous job. He’s supposedly having a lot of trouble walking and has been told to stop making long plane trips, which would be a problem for the Pope. If he also feels he’s having difficulty focusing at times and over the long haul - which an individual performance wouldn’t really speak to - that isn’t unexpected. There’s also a lot of room between ‘doesn’t feel he is mentally up to the job anymore’ (or ‘won’t be capable of handling the job much longer’) and ‘senile.’
They say it’s as yet unclear what his exact title will be afterward. Maybe they could revive “antipope”?
Pontifex emeritus?
And some really nifty shoes! 
Also, given that we all have questions about this retirement/resignation/whatever, I think that Mr. Benny ought to hold a sort of Q & A meeting in which all can ask him questions.
And everybody will be secretly taking bets on how long it takes for him to get bored with questions and then to say “I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition”. 
I’m somewhat amused at all the concern that the Ex Pope will be living close to the Vatican. I even saw one news headline “Two Popes”. Oh Please, it’s not a big deal.
The US currently has four living ex Presidents. Britain has at least three living ex prime ministers. I’m sure you could go on and on listing countries with ex leaders. It’s never been a problem in the US. Jimmy Carter doesn’t interfere and neither do either of the Bushes in current politics.
I doubt we’ll hear much from the ex pope. I expect that he’ll settle down into a quiet retirement just like all the other former world leaders .
I’ll be shocked if he lives to see 2014. He looks so frail. Frailer than JP2 ever did, even in his last days.
But Nixon was a thorn in the sides of several presidents.
ETA: And IIRC, Jimmy Carter pissed the Clinton administration off at least once. I think he went to North Korea on behalf of the president and, from the POV of the White House, went beyond the scope of his authority.
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.
Actually, I saw him on the news this morning and he was looking pretty good! I guess quitting the pope job takes ten years off your age.
Well, given that he was the head of the Roman one…
I’m just waiting to see if the camerlengo looks anything like Ewan McGregor, and tries to take over like in Angels and Demons. 