Why elect a 78 year old pope?
 

Do they want to repeat the process in another few years?

so the Germans will be happy for a couple of years until he dies then they get an italian pope again

God said so.....

The sheep like flocking to wise old men.

:1orglaugh

'cause men that old usually don't diddle little boys.

they get bonuses evry time they elect a new Pope

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Who is they?

transition pope. The one after him will give you condoms.

the cardinals

why not?
An older pope has more wisdom and knowledge in the Catholic doctrine than a younger one. Although it is best if he can consult the young generation as they can relate better to the relevant issues of the time. :2 cents:

I wouldn'y know, i think it will only be bringing a new 2 billion funeral broadcast for the world.

Pope Benedict XVI is nearly 80 years old!!

I'd say elect a younger candidate, it's not like he won't be prepped by a team of holy advisors, similar to a president or prime minister.

I was actually pulling for a black pope, that would have been awesome

:1orglaugh

yeah that sucks....no little boy wants to fondle some old soft penis

Quick turnover? :Oh crap

i dont understand it either

Apparently Benedict XVI (Ratzinger) even though a rather conservative history, has supported the idea that Popes retire at 80. This gives the seat to push such a change through the Vatican, and gives them a few years to casually pick and groom the next successor. Ratzinger has actually been doing the day to day job of the Pope for a number of years because of John Paul II's bad health. It's a logical move for the Catholic church to initiate some changes for the future without being to liberal or conservative in the mean time.

My :2 cents:

Good for ratings and hopefully they can repeat this process every couple years.

Holy shit, BEST SIG EVER!

Mouhahaha, probably :1orglaugh

because he was a hitler youth

Haha!!!!

The newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, who turned 78 on Saturday, will be expected to maintain John Paul II's deeply conservative line. He has railed against "greed" and "self-sufficiency" within the Roman Catholic Church and rejects any attempt to modernise.

I hope the new pope gets assassinated

These people jumping up and down on TV over this guy need their heads examined.

:1orglaugh

because there were not any 79 or older too chose from?

exactly!
so we can go thru these shananigans in a few more years.

guess he won't be appointing any gay cardinals

Did anyone check his background? Good lord it's a bad pick for a pope. He was actually in the Hitler Jugend (Or in english: Hitler Youth) and handled some anti-air gun thing during the war somewhere. http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/...854233152.html

In my opinion that's bad... no matter how old he was at that time.

why did usa elect their president?
mystery questions like this will never be answered

They are always old....The pope that was elected before the most recent John Paul lasted under a month before he kicked it and then they elected john paul. He was considred pretty young when he was elected but was by no means a youngster himself....Just how it is...If they got some youth in there they might actually get some insight and move away from their bullshit views but that'd be too easy now wouldnt it?

When your brother is governor of the 4th largest state it's kind of easy to win elections.

perhaps they should do it dali lama style and find a young boy and make him pope?

Dude, your complaining about the new pope being old, because we would have another funeral and re-election too soon? A black pope wouldnt make it a week!

Not a racial comment, but all the fuckin stupid racist rednecks and the like around the world would go insane. People need to move the fuck on, but it still hasnt changed unfortunately.

He's a transitional Pope. They picked an old John Paul II loyalist to basically help solidify JP2's legacy, when he dies they'll elect someone younger to create his own legacy.

Cause we need a president to run things dumbass.
Next question.

i piss on the pope

I think it had a lot to do with this Pope Benedict, being the "right-hand" man for the previous Pope. They were very close and shared a lot of same thoughts on a lot of issues. Since everybody loved the previous Pope, the cardinals chose Benedict XVI who was the closest to the previous Pope.

so he will die in ten years instead of 25 like the last one.