Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, will step down at the end of this month.

It’s been nearly 600 years since the last time a pope resigned.

“In a sign of just how rare an event this is, church officials aren’t sure what the Pope will be called after he leaves office,” according to a CNN article.

The Pope is stepping down due to health issues that are preventing him from feeling up to par.

With the prominence of television and social media today, anything that happens within the church is broadcast.

“[The] Pope is like a celebrity,” said Brooke Nelson, professor of religion at CLU.

Nelson thinks that with this pressure the terms of a Pope are going to be shorter, where they will resign, or start at an older age, enabling shorter terms.

“I think that the Catholic Church is at this pivotal moment right now, where they have to decide where they’re going to go as a church community, and I think the pope stepping down allows the church to modernize and reconsider this moment in a really fundamental way,” said Nelson.

Junior Joseph Stahulak thinks that people are making a bigger issue out of Benedict’s resignation than it really is.

“It’s definitely contributing to some doubt, I think slightly within myself, but also in, I think, other Catholics, as well as is the wave of child abuse and other things. This is just something else to be added to the list,” said Stahulak.

Stahulak would like to see the next Pope take a more proactive stance on certain issues and thought it was funny that many Western Europeans were against the idea of a U.S. pope.

Junior Jeff Jesalva hasn’t heard much of the recent talk of the Pope’s resignation.

He said he practiced Catholicism when he was younger, but no longer participates.

Jesalva believes it could be a good or bad thing, and that it all depends on which way the next Pope directs the church.

Recent news about the Pope has made a lot of people interested in what is going to happen.

People who would never bring it up are talking about what the Pope does, asking what a conclave is, said Nelson.

“Everyone learns about what half the world’s Christians believe and adhere to because Roman Catholics are 50 percent of the Christians of the world, and so I think these moments cast a much needed light on things,” said Nelson.

Brock Funfar
Staff Writer
Published Feb. 27, 2013