The Weekly Sneak: Father Joe

Listen, this is no time for the picking of "original" topics for the weekly offering. Pope Benedict XVI has decided to resign, which is an unusual thing for a Pope to do to put it mildly. Generations of Catholics have lived and died without hope of ever seeing such a phenomenon. The Pope is citing old age, feels he doesn't have the energy to do the job well. Maybe that's the whole story, maybe there's more to it but at the end of the day it is still fantastic news. 

I am a big, big fan of people who know when it's time to let go and move on. This is not something the patriarchy is any good at, and it doesn't get more rampantly patriarchal than The Church. So His Holiness must be congratulated in the hopes of encouraging the behavior to spread. Now, if only we could get a few African presidents to see the light:

" Whatever his reasons are for throwing in the towel, it’s a wonderful development.  And it’s also great fodder for African and other political commentators who are stuck under the protracted rule of former liberators clinging to power several decades past their sell-by date. Pope Benedict XVI has just upped the ante on President-for-Lifers. I must hereby join the ranks those who cannot help but turn a beady eye to a number of Heads of State and ask: “Well? What are you waiting for?”