PopeWatch: My Heart Bleeds

Here is the CNA news report on Pope Benedict XVI’s letter in which he supposedly wrote that insomnia was the reason for his resignation:

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253493/letter-from-benedict-xvi-reveals-the-central-motive-he-resigned

I am skeptical about this purported letter.

In all fairness, chronic insomnia will cloud someones ability to think straight and therefore make rational decisions. I’m sure it would have contributed to his unhappiness. Why he couldn’t overcome it with access to the best doctors, is a mystery.

I have a personal remedy.

Sip a jigger if Dewars Scotch half hour before bedtime. Then, say prayers until you fall off.

If that don’t work double the dose.

The older one gets the harder to sleep.

Also, having a prostate the size of a grapefruit, I walk about half a mile incessantly getting to and from the john each night. And it’s only 20 feet.

One should embrace a spirit of mortification. Offer it up.

The Catholic World Report article from Jan. 29th claims that the insomnia started after the first World Youth Day of his pontificate, 2005, and further that the resignation was promoted in part at least, by the prospect of the upcoming World Youth Day later in 2013. Did something about World Youth Day unsettle him? It was on his mind, judging from the letter he wrote to his biographer.

Father of Seven.

We have only the sight from earth.
Even that is obscured from our vantage point.

If his ailment was four years in the making and those four years seemed to be wearing a cross of thorns..it is very possible that HIS, the Father’s will, was done. What we don’t have is the perfect vision from on high. He does, however, and in four years of redemptive suffering from Pope Benedict XVI, it is quite possible that the Lord said enough. Take leave. The deep cleanse of the Holy Catholic Church needs to be done and it very well could of postponed that cleansing if he remained in the Chair.
In order to remove the stains one needs to see them.
Is it possible that his replacement has given the body of Christ a clearer picture of what needs to be cleaned? What is not in order? Who is helping God in this clean up and who isn’t. That is becoming clearer by the day.
Yes. Over twenty years ago the stains became visible to the body of Christ in the form of scandalous priests being moved around by cowardly Bishops.
We know that the stains are deeply embedded. We can safely assume that man alone can not remove these stains, so patience, prayers and Trust in God is all that my narrow and limited sight can make of this.

A few years ago, after over 20+ years of rotating shift work, I had some real bad bouts with insomnia. I would get what I called twired, both tired and wired at the same time. Sometimes I’d be unable to fall asleep even after being awake for over forty hours straight. That sucks! I often went to work after not sleeping at all. I wouldn’t recommend doing that.

As to how insomnia would affect an octogenarian with a lifetime of poor health (how he lived as long as he did despite that fact is a miracle) should be considered. According to his older brother Georg. he had problems with insomnia long before he became pope. That was one of the reasons he regarded his brother’s papal election as bad news.

It seems to me that a lot of papal duties are superfluous and could be dispensed with. Plus, there is enormous pressure on cardinal to accept should he be elected, something I think is not right. And there have been cardinals who have made clear to their fellow cardinals to not bother trying to elect them because they will refuse. I guess that what Cardinal Ratzinger should have done. Expecting a frail man in his late seventies to accept a burden that would challenge a man thirty years his junior strikes me as a bit obscene.

Note, before 1963, popes did not travel much. We could get along with a pope who restricted his travel to the ‘Lazio’ region of Italy. The Holy See has dicasteries and offices you could close with scant injury to the Church’s mission. You could reduce manpower requirements in the Holy See by selling off any actively managed businesses and selling off any physical assets other than ecclesiastical buildings; residences which are architectural treasures; archives, libraries, and museums; and treasures in arts and crafts. The Holy See should have cash and securities in accounts in a variety of hard currency countries, superintended by lay boards. Have the various nunciaries and apostolic delegations rent space.

“I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” Except get a good night’s sleep I guess.
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Honestly, there seems to be a lot of things folks are unable to do (and I do not refer to changing genders and/or sex here) these days. Perhaps we are at that point in civilization where we are all fragile because we have all lived a relatively comfortable life, and have known nothing else. When the storms hit, as they do, we are seemingly powerless, and apparently sleepless, even with God’s assistance. But perhaps it has always been this way.
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I still wonder if he was blackmailed. Quit the Papacy because of insomia? That seems a bit, um, not right.

Southcoast – Talk to a doctor. It took me years to find the combination of meds that worked, but the years since I found them have been blissful.

In my youth, many sleeping pills were addictive and were seen as a crutch. They’ve gotten better, and they’re not as addictive as scotch.

Sometimes placing oneself in the hands of God helps, but not always. Resting is all I can do with insomnia.