Abdication of Pope Benedict XVI

“Religious people scare me, but spiritual people inspire me!” – Unknown.

It is quite a surprising piece of news from the Holy See, not many people see it coming, do you? Who is next going to head this venerable institution founded by Peter and Paul? Mostly by Paul, if I may say so. I'm not robbing Peter to pay Paul here. Peter was the symbolic head of state while Paul was doing all the footwork, leaving his personal footprints all over Asia Minor and the Levant coasts. He ventured even as far as Rome. His handiworks still influence the thinking of the Church’s fathers to this day. The question now facing the Vatican is who has the anti-reformative cold feet to fill those satin-lined Fisherman's Sandals?

If you dabble in astrology and a fan of Nostradamus, the next supreme Pontiff is believed to be “from the new crescent moon”. Probably a cardinal from the Middle East country? Or from a country when the new crescent moon first appears in ascendance when the Conclave of Cardinals sequesters itself behind closed doors to select the next new piece of “Rock”, upon which Jesus would build his church?

But what a little piece of rock that is, the Vatican! It is a piece of paradise here on earth, if you ever see one. It is filled with so many heavenly art treasures that will reap the Holy Father an immeasurable earthly sum . . . if he chooses to liquidate them. Ah, the architecture that is St. Peter’s Basilica, lifts human spirit a-soaring to a new height of sensual pleasure that Michelangelo and Bernini once had experienced.

What is the relevancy of the Papacy to our world today? His Holiness’s spiritual grasp on the hearts and minds of his flock is still indisputable and palpable, but his temporal power will no longer inspire terrors and fears on the world's body corporal he once had with inquisitions and social castrations. His anathemas can no longer be cast further than the confining walls of the Vatican. His excommunication edicts can now be sidestepped in this age of Facebook and other social media. It turns out that the current Pope, Benedict, with an unfortunate moniker of "God's Rottweiler" given by a media pundit, has no canine teeth or he has long been defanged. Or he simply has been wearing dentures for all these years but had been kept in secrecy by the Curia Romana. Well, the end result is that his barks have been worse than his bites and had been found barking up a wrong tree at times.

He may still claims to be the castellan of all human virtues, custodian of millions of Roman Catholic souls and lord of all that little piece of rock he surveys. But marriage between religion and state has always been a bad idea, many crusades and holy wars have been born of this unholy union.

How do we improve the image and social standing of the Church in this age of PRs and media spins? The devil is in the detail, as they say. I have called on God's liaison officer, the Archangel Gabriel, for his Boss's comment on the current state of His Church.. Many attempts have been made but my calls so far have not been returned.

On the personal note, I wish the Holy Father well and hope he will find peace and personal redemption in his new life of contemplative prayers and private devotions. Personal preservation, not self-sacrifice, will go a long way to . . . well, preserve oneself. Heaven can wait. . . His legacy and achievements will be discussed and debated by the historians and the world at large for years to come.

There have been many discussions on the future role of the Pope. I think he'll be given the title "Pope Emeritus of the Holy See”, you see, not to be confused with "Papa Emmett" who lives across the Emerald Sea. Who is Papa Emmett, you ask? I don't know, probably from OZ or Ireland. He just happens to rhyme. . . (The "Devious Poet" strikes again!). The truth is, he will be hidden away in one of the abbeys doting the Lateran Hill and will spend the rest of his life as an anonymous penitent. Just like you can't have two crouching tigers marking their territories on the same hillock, as a Chinese philosopher once so wisely observed, you can't have two popes peddling salvation in the same 'hoods on "Roma's Seven Hills."

Religion, as well as government, provides the spiritual and temporal frameworks and support systems that fulfill some of our basic human needs. The needs to belong, to associate, for mutual aid, for identity and for security are universal in all of us. Like an automobile, they are good instruments or means that serve those ends. Like an automobile, they need fine tuning and part upgrade from time to time and a good and responsible chauffeur put in place to take the helm.

However, ever so often, those whom we put in the driver's seat abuse, misuse or even betray that trust, that lead some people to become spiritually cynical and politically apathetic. You shouldn’t blame the vehicle. That shouldn't be. The Church that Jesus built was a fine piece of transport system that moved us from barbarism to civilized society. So, all we need is to actively participate, to fine tune those systems and put in place wise, conscientious people with integrity to guide, govern so that the original messages and principles of the founders will not be lost in translation or misrepresentation.

After the Pope and the Queen of Netherlands, could the Queen of Shakespeare's Land be far behind? Charles has been waiting to get into that “uniform a la king” that got tucked away and stacked so high in his highness's attic for so long that it is now unfit for his girth but fit for the Tower of London Museum display. Give the poor bonny Prince of Wails a chance, eh Lizzy?