Pope Benedict Retires Because Of "Allah" Controversy?

Well CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and the other news networks were all abuzz last night about the Pope's decision to "retire".  CNN seemed to be suggesting that there is more than meets the eye to the Pope saying that he was retiring because he was "too tired" and not well. 

(His exact words : "I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.")

To create more doubt on this CNN showed clips of Pope Benedict (Joseph Ratzinger of Germany) meeting the previous Pope John Paul II (Jozef Wojtyla of Poland) who was in a wheelchair and very sick until he died.  Plus the National Catholic Reporter reports the Vatican as saying that Pope Benedict is not sick. So questions will still be raised as to why the Pope is retiring?

In 2010 when  reports of clerical sexual abuse in Catholic churches worldwide were being published in several European countries the Pope was asked whether he was considering resigning. His answer at that time was no. However the Pope did appear to age substantially over that incident - which is still not resolved. Maybe there are more revelations on the way.

The conspiracy theorists will have a field day about the Pope's resignation for years and decades to come.  For excample here is Barking Magpie with his "Was being a suspected Nazi sympathiser a reason why Pope Benedict resign?"  There will be many more conspiracy theories.

Here is mine. Maybe he is resigning because he cannot bring himself to use the word 'Allah' in the sermons. Or maybe he is resigning because he just found out that the Indonesian Bible is using the word Allah for god.  

For a very long time, many christian preachers have said that Allah actually is the name of an Arabian pagan god. Here is something about "Allah the pagan moon god of Arabia" :

"Allah as Moon-god :   Allah as Moon-God is a claim put forth by some Evangelical Christian groups that the Islamic name for God, Allah, derives from a pagan Moon god in local Arabic mythology. The implication is that "Allah" is a different God from the Judeo-Christian deity and that Muslims are worshipping a "false god". The claim is most associated with the Christian apologist author Robert Morey, whose book The moon-god Allah in the archeology of the Middle East is the most cited source of the meme that Allah is a moon-god."

So when the Pope found out that the Indonesian Bible now calls Jesus, His Dad and the other guy as the pagan Moon-god trio - he couldnt take it anymore. So that is why he resigned. 

This is just my conspiracy theory lah. What do you think? Feel free to rebut, add or expand my theory. Its all fake anyway. Excuse me dear reader, has anyone seen a spirit yet? Not yet? So whither then the word 'spirituality'? Ini 'spiritual' idea semua mana mari?  From the Moon god?

Anyway, there is speculation now about who shall be the new Pope. Here is a news report :

Africans Among Favorites to Replace Benedict

With the shocking announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will be stepping down at the end of the month, all eyes are now on the men who are being considered to replace him and become the 266th Pope.

Many within the Roman Catholic Church believe the time has come for a non-European to ascend to the papacy. Here is a look at some of the front-runners:

1. Peter Turkson (Ghana, age 64) is the one of the top African candidates. Head of the Vatican justice and peace bureau. He sparked an outcry last year when he screened a YouTube film  featuring alarmist predictions at the rise of Islam in Europe. The clip, “Muslim Demographics,” features claims such as: “In just 39 years France will be an Islamic republic.”

(I think this guy stands a chance. Anti Islam is in).

2. Francis Arinze (Nigeria, age 80) is also a strong African contender. Arinze became the youngest Roman Catholic bishop in the world when he was ordained to the episcopate in 1965 at the age of 32. He was made a cardinal in 1985 and is known for his tolerance of elements of traditional worship in the Catholic Mass.

(I have my doubts. Elements of traditional worship is out)

There is a large and growing Catholic population in Latin America to consider. The region already represents 42 percent of the world's 1.2 billion-strong Catholics, the largest single block in the Church, compared to 25 percent in Europe.

3. Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga (Honduras, age 71) is a top pick from Latin America. Rodríguez was elevated to cardinal in 2001.  He was the Vatican's spokesman with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, on the issue of Third World debt, and has encouraged countries to give development aid.

(Asking the Bankers to be kind is not the smartest thing to do. I think he will not make it either).

4. Angelo Scola (Italy, age 71) is the leading candidate from Europe, which accounts for around half the cardinals who can vote but only a quarter of the world's Catholics. All previous Popes have been European.  Scola is the archbishop of Milan, a springboard to the papacy, and is many Italians' bet to win. He heads a foundation to promote Muslim-Christian understanding. 

(I think this guy stands a chance as well. He is Mat Salleh and that Muslim-Christian thing sounds like good camouflage).

5. Marc Ouellet (Canada, age 68) is effectively the Vatican's top staff director as head of the Congregation for Bishops that appoints bishops throughout the world.  Ouellet attracted controversy in 2010 when he addressed an anti-abortion conference in Quebec City, saying that terminating a pregnancy was a "moral crime."

(This guy has the right amount of conservatism.)

6. Claudio Hummes (Brazil, age 78) was elevated to cardinal in February 2001. He has criticized the spread of global capitalism.  In a 2006 interview with a Brazilian newspaper he said that the Church could review the question of celibacy for priests because "celibacy is not a dogma but a disciplinary action."

(Hmm..the bankers wont like him and the conservative priests also will not like him.) 

7. Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone (Italy, age 78) currently serves as Cardinal Secretary of State and Camerlengo.   Bertone rejected the "demand that a bishop be obligated to contact police to denounce a priest who had admitted pedophilia." Bertone argued that "if a priest cannot confide in his bishop for fear of being denounced then it would mean that there is no more liberty of conscience." In 2010, Bertone publicly blamed the child sex scandal on homosexual infiltration of the clergy.

(Hmmm...maybe...just maybe)

8. Keith O'Brien (Scotland, age 74) is the Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh.  O'Brien has a keen interest in foreign missions, having twice visited the territory in northern Nigeria previously adopted by his own Archdiocese and his priests who are loan to dioceses in Central America.

(Donno.)

9. Raymond Burke (USA, age 64) is the current Cardinal Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. He is the highest-ranking American in the Vatican.

(Nope. The Vatican is not ready for a 'world super power' Pope yet).

The resignation of Pope Benedict also raises theological questions. The last Pope to resign was Gregory XII in 1415. What will they call a retired Pope? The ex-Pope? The former Pope? Will he get a pention? How much?

The Papacy is not a 'secular' job with 9 - 5 working hours, retirement age and retirement benefits.  The Pope is the Vicegerent of Christ - he is Christ's representative here on Earth. Not only that he also 'represents god on Earth'.  

"The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the Pope has supreme and full power in faith, in morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true vicar, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians. He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by no one, God himself on earth." Quoted in the New York Catechism."

Holy shmoley! What a guy?  Can such a person simply retire from the job?  And when there is a new Pope elected after February 28th, does that mean that there will be two 'God himself on earth' walking around? One in office and one just retired?  

The Pope's resignation therefore does impinge a great deal on the 'spirituality' of the office. It is just a 9-5 job. The Pope will have to negotiate his retirement benefits as well.  In the real world a retired headmaster is just called a retired headmaster.