Originally posted by SAV:
I saw Ratzinger on TV earlier today and the man looks like he'll be on his way out almost as quickly as he got in.

I was raised following the Catholic religion, but did myself the unfortunate deed of not paying very much attention to the way things are done. I'm wondering why all the Popes are so old. Do they have to be a certain age or do they just have to serve X amount of years as a Cardinal before they can be elected as a Pope?

-SAV



No limits.
Respect for tradition, Popes are very political figures and from religious insiders they wanted a very conservative Pope woho would follow in the previous footsteps of JPII, while remaining out of the public eye as JPII was a very controversial Pope. Christians felt it was time for a Pope to blend into the shadows for a while while carrying on his duties. Maybe the next one will be a younger more controversial figure.



Money doesn't always bring happiness. People with ten million dollars are no happier than people with nine million dollars ~ Hobart Brown