I'm not a big fan of the RC Church or popes in general, but I thought this pope quite good as popes go.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/222744_614164418599013_1786538957_n.jpg

The issue of papal succession has been a problem of the Church for quite some time already. Despite starting as an honest and humble mom-and-pop business, the incorporation of the Church in 325 AD established it as THE frontrunner of Western corporate governance for centuries to come. The democratic and theoretically meritocratic election of the CEO was but one example of the huge gap between the progresiveness of the private sector, spearheaded by the Church, and backwardness of the public sector, represented by most contemporary governments. At its best, the acumen of its CEOs forced even accomplished politicians to scale back efforts to regulate its activities and nationalize certain parts of its core business. While the strategic approach was distinctively top-down oriented, the decentralized executive allowed individual SBUs to exert significant amounts of initiative and therefore flexibly react to ever-changing business environment - all the while operating under close scrutiny of strict controlling procedures implemented on each level of corporate hierarchy.

Yet the Church has lost its edge in the last 3 centuries - although the outsourcing of its services to state and therefore its gradual transformation into a hollow corporation kept pace with modern trends, it didn't fare well in the traditional Western markets that were alienated by its increasingly obsolete brand identity. Nevertheless, the success on emerging markets helped boost the market shares, even though the overall profit margins might have fallen due to the lower purchasing power of citizens in said markets. That's why the Church should embrace a more global corporate culture, transcending the physical boundaries between its individual subsidiaries. After electing 2 CEOs from non-traditional old markets, a CEO from a new market could reinforce the forward-looking signal sent out during the general assembly of 1965, when modern policies such as glocalization took root. A safe bet on a CEO well-acquainted with the everyday reality of the corporate HQ might work as well, provided he offers enough breathing room for executives from the rapidly growing SBUs.

Nevertheless, the transition of power could be easily smoothed out by alleviating the restrictions on the neutrality of the out-going CEO. Designating a list of the most suitable successors would go a long way in preventing the behind-the-scenes speculations surrounding every elections.

@jmo:
there is a disturbance in the force
@ulytau
that's actually an interesting idea, the way you made the comparison.

To all detractors of Catholicism - sorry you don't like our Faith. We'll do better.

"He decided he's too old an infirm to do the job, and he thinks the job needs someone doing it... if he really cares, what is he supposed to delegate all the power to others? Or is he merely trying to make the position one which is more powerful with less delegation needed..."

I'll use this response as a stand-in also for the other, similiar, "He's RETIRING, Obi, yeesh, that's all"-style responses...

And my response is simply--
I'd believe that...
Except...
He's the POPE!

Again, this is one of the few jobs where you're EXPECTED to grow old, infirm, and die in office, and everyone's OK with that. What's more, this aggrandizing of the difficulties of the pope's job strikes me a bit like when I had a professor who claimed--no joke--that Queen Elizabeth II MUST have one of the hardest jobs and lives on Earth.

If you're British, I'm not ragging on your Queen here, not at all, but even you would have to agree (assuming you even like the Queen) that, charity work and the like aside, she's mostly a figurehead, really...and CERTAINLY 99.99999999% of the planet has it worse or more difficult than Liz, she does NOT have the hardest life on Earth at all (I'd also be tempted to say that hers is another job where it's expected you die in office, but then I'm no expert on the British Monarchy, so for all I know she's expected to give up the crown at some point in her old age...though if that's the case Charles has to be looking at his watch already and wondering when THAT day's going to come, but I digress.)

My point?

The Pope, much like the British Queen, has a largely symbolic job, he's largely a figurehead. He serves as "Christ's vicar on Earth," much the same way the Queen's technically the Head of HER fun little Church...founded on the family values of Henry VIII...

It's NOT like this isn't a job he couldn't do from his bed, here, guys, I'm sorry.
He's not a construction worker, not a ball player, not a soldier...
Not an actual lawmaker who has to schlep himself down to the Capital to speak and vote...
He's not ANY of that--

He's a figurehead, and he could've done the job from his bed when the time came, and we have the LAST Pope, the immensely-popular John Paul II, as a prime example of that...sure, JP grew very, very weak in his old age (who doesn't?) but the point is he, like all the popes for 600 years before him, SOMEHOW kept on the job until the end.

I'm sorry...

I DON'T buy that this Pope, after literally millenia of popes dying in office, regardless of their health...

ESPECIALLY WITH THE PEDOPHILIA CHARGES HITTING THE FAN.

Ratzinger was the one who circulated memos BEFORE he was Pope threatening excommunication to anyone who even thought about ratting out the child rapists in the Church.

SO...tell me what's more likely--

That Ratzinger really felt a job you can do from your bed in later years (a job you're EXPECTED to do from your bed, infirm, in your later years, as the last pope did, with your own cushy Pope-mobile and all, no less!) was REALLY too strenuous, so strenuous that he, a VERY conservative Catholic, would break 600 years of tradition and resign...

OR that the child abuse scandals and other points of embarrassment and shame for the Church under his reign have caught up with him instead, either in terms of guilt or the Catholic brass, as it were, maybe suggesting a change of face at the pope position might be necessary for the Catholic Church to try and SAVE face?

I see the pedophilia charges are to the Catholic Church as oil is to American foreign policy.

He watched his friend John Paul II decline in office, and he decided for himself that was not going to be his way. Holy Week is coming up, with a demanding liturgical schedule that younger priests have a hard time finding the stamina. He sees himself as less than the office, and so he is setting aside the office.

Is the concept of humility so foreign to you?

I doubt this is related to ongoing accusations against the church. These problems were fully known before he took the position.

What I do suspect is that there's some age-related degenerative mental condition, like Alzheimer's. Given the history of Popes serving while physically frail, I don't think he'd retire over this. If, however, there were a potential for mental deficiencies in the future, I could see him retiring before they impair him in a more public way.

A Pope lived in a palace in the old Vatican.
A palace with a Pope in
And well was he coping.
He sang every morning “How lucky I am
Living in a palace in the old Vatican”


I saw a Pope!
Where?
There on the stair
Where on the stair?
Right there!
A little Pope with jackboots
Well I declare
Going clip clipperty clop on the stair.
Oh yeah



The Pope he got lonesome and took him a whore
A palace with a whore in
Ain’t nearly so borin’.
They sang every morning “How happy I am
Rutting in a palace in the old Vatican”


I saw a Pope!
Where?
There on the stair
Where on the stair?
Right there!
A little Pope with a glove on
Well I declare
Going bonk bonkerty bonk on the stair.
Oh yeah



The Pope needed money and went to his bank
Their plan wasn’t evil
And barely illegal.
The sang every morning “How wealthy I am
Hoarding and defrauding in the old Vatican”


I saw a Pope!
Where?
There on the stair
Where on the stair?
Right there!
With a brand new Rolex
Well I declare
Going tick tickerty tock on the stair.
Oh yeah


A journo came calling and dug him some dirt.
With Satan blackmailin’
The Pope’s health was failin’.
He sang every morning “Unhappy I am”
And promptly resigned from the old Vatican.


I saw a Pope!
Where?

^ ??? Is this a variant on a nursery rhyme I never heard as a kid...?

Pope goes the weasel?

Hey obi-jew.

Fuck off.

Hey fucking racist asshole, fuck off.

Whyn't you fuck off instead, Nazi swine?

So you snotty cunts like to rip on Catholics, but you can't take it?

Typical american faggots.

Israel is the closest comparison to Nazi Germany since Nazi Germany. They've been commiting genocide for decades.
In fact, they're WORSE than Nazi Germany.

No, I don't especially give a shit about catholics one way or another. Nazi assholes, on the other hand, piss me off.

Lol, thanks Bob.

I'm not sure where I was racist toward Catholics, but hey, whatever... you obviously didn't catch the sarcasm in that. That's cool.

Been awhile since I muted someone... felt good. Someone find me a TC thread, I need to mute him again.

I'm not particularly a fan of Israel, the state. But then, you weren't offering obi a critique of Israel's policies. You were just being a Nazi swine. So, feel free to commence with the fucking off.

Not liking jews doesn't make me a Nazi, you fucking moron. There is no connection. Love to keep bitch-slapping you kids, but SOTU is on. Gotta see if the Faggot-Nigger-in-Chief is going to say anything even remotely TRUE.

lol.

Actually, the rhyme called the pope a Nazi. He was a Hitler youth under duress and it was uncalled for. As bad as he is, calling him a Nazi is a fucked up thing to do and obi got what he had coming to him.

Obi didn't write that?

The pope has substantially more real power in the RCC than the queen does in England, obi.

Wow, this thread went downhill

obi is a bigoted, pseudo-intellectual fool.

^^ says the guy who in 1 paragraph says he didn't like jews, dropped the N bomb, and embraced anti-woman violence? (OK that last was a bit Putinesque, but still).

At least obi is pesudo-intellectual. Maple is simply a fool.