http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJrHiFS1eqc
Early this morning, at about 4 AM PST, Pope Benedict XVI sent word out that he would resign at the end of the month, February 28th, and for heath-related reasons. The Pope is just two months shy of his 86th birthday, and has served as the 265th leader of the Roman Catholic Church for just about eight years.
Pope Benedict started as the oldest Pope ever selected at 78. The man who’s real name is Joseph Ratzinger, took over as Pope during a time of amazing social and technical change. Consider that when Joseph Ratzinger was named Pope and took the name of Benedict, there was no YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. The idea of Gay Marriage was considered almost unthinkable. Now, eight years later, we have social media as all but replacing traditional media and a number of American states have made Gay Marriage legal.
These changes have placed the Pope in a different, and arguably more stressful, place than his predecessors. He received a lot of criticism for his position on Gay Marriage.
The Next Pope May Be Black
The question now is who will be the next Pope? There’s a two out of three chance that person will be black. Many think the choice is between Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet and Ghanian Cardinal Peter Turkson.
Stay tuned.