St. Faustina recorded in paragraph 323 of her diary the details of the worst suffering she ever experienced.
It was on December 17, 1936, the day Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born.
St. Faustina wrote:
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| Defending Truth and Tradition in the Roman Catholic Church |
Interesting. So Pope Francis is 84 years old today.
To date, the only popes that were in office at that age or older were:
Pope Benedict XVI -resigned close to 86 (85), who is still alive today at age 93
John Paul II at 84 (but I suspect he was assisted by the next pope (Josef Ratzinger) the last part of his life)
Pope Leo XIII at age 93
Pope Pius IX at 85
Pope Clement XII at age 87
Pope Innocent XII at age 85
Pope Clement X at age 86
It is particularly remarkable that Pope Leo XIII served the papacy for over 25 years and died at age 93 in 1878.
If Pope Benedict XVI didn’t resign in 2013, he would have been the oldest pope serving in the papacy. The reasons for his resignation were not being able to carry out the entirety of his duties at his age. He stated he believed someone should be able to carry out the full extent of their duties to remain in the office of Pope.
I believe travel itinerary was brought as a reason by Pope Benedict XVI. Before modern transportation, an extensive schedule of travel probably wasn’t a consideration for the office of Pope.
While physical abilities were deemed why a successor was needed, it takes more than physical strength, agility, and endurance of a prelate to be a good fit for Pope. I hope I am not overly critical and uncharitable, but I think more research on Jorge Bergoglia should have been done before he was chosen for a candidate for pope, such as interviews for those who were taught by him as seminarians and those who served underneath him as priests, in Argentina.
We were not given someone who weighed information carefully and thoroughly, and prayed upon it before making a declarative statement. We were not given a theologian, but a scientist. There’s nothing wrong with being a scientist, but environmental issues and global warming appeared to have been given more attention and action than persecuted Christians, and other troubling issues of a spiritual and religious nature in the world.
The one action and proclamation that I do agree with what Pope Francis has done recently, is to commemorate the following year to St. Joseph, from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021. And I agree with his reasons for doing so.
Great post, Christian. I wonder how old St. Peter was when he died? Traditionally, he is seen as having the longest pontificate, but we don’t know how old he was when he died. The best hint we have that he is ‘old’ when he dies is in John 21:18. Christ says to him: “… when thou art old thou wilt stretch forth thy hands and another will gird thee and and lead thee where thou wouldst not….” This prophecy of Peter’s death is, I believe, a gift to Peter, who was so fearful of death that he three times betrayed Christ the night He was condemned to death. In the above quote, Christ is, in effect, telling Peter that he will get to be an old man, perhaps alleviating some of the fear which might have otherwise affected the mission and Peter’s ministry.
Regarding Pope Benedict’s ‘early retirement’ I found your comments about the travel burden to be very interesting. And I agree that he probably did much to enable Pope John Paul II to continue as pope in later years. The assassination attempt also contributed I believe to JP II’s decline. While I don’t doubt Pope Benedict’s own rigorous discernment of his decision to ‘retire,’ I would simply point to the natural cycle of decline as contributing to the need for a ‘breather’ for the Pope as well as for the people, instead of an ever escalating ‘to-do’ list. It is like farm management, and the need to let the fields lay fallow from time to time, in a natural regeneration. There should be no shame in a Pope’s taking a quiet time toward the end of his life to contemplate and do less in his role as pope. Perhaps that is exactly what Pope Benedict has been doing in retirement, rather than while Pope? But it doesn’t consider that the Body of Christ, the laity as well as the priest, may need a fallow time too. Did it come under the guise of COVID?
I share your enthusiasm for the attention planned to St. Joseph in the coming year. I can certainly see the need to focus on his role as the patron of the universal Church, and also love his title “Terror of Demons” which is so sorely needed!
According to online data, St. Peter is estimated as dying between 62-67 years of age, which was probably considered old age in that time.
I was surprised after reading one saint’s life, of their life events, the hardships they faced, and all they had accomplished in their lifetime, to learn they died at the ripe old age of 24! I think in many time periods and cultures, people took on adult responsibilities at a much younger age when the normal life expectancy wasn’t very long, such as 35 years old.
I respect and admire Pope Benedict XVI, and certainly don’t think he should feel shame in resigning the papacy; i was just sorry to see him go. I do acknowledge that he did much of his work for the Catholic Church before he even was named Pope. I wish him well in his retirement. He most probably is praying for the Church and the World, especially in this COVID-19 pandemic.
I think we may see this one differently. You mention 62-67 years of age for Peter at his death; however those are the same as the time range often used for his death, 62-67 AD. Let’s take 66AD as the most likely; that means Peter, if he died at 66 after 33 years as pope, must have been the same age as Christ was when on earth. I have often thought of Peter as a bit ‘older.’ After all, he had a mother-in-law and his own fishing business. Perhaps age and AD are confused here? The apostle John seems to have lived to a ripe old age near 100. I think the Jewish dietary laws and cleanliness laws have something to do with longer life spans.
I am only going on online sources. Multiple sites quote Peter as being born c. AD 1 and dying between 64-68 AD (age 62-67 years). (One site actually stated he died 67 AD).
They state Jesus as a man, was older than Peter when he called him to be an apostle on the shores of Galilee. Jesus was born between 6-4 BC. and died between 33 -36 AD., at age 33.5 years.
But they state Peter lived much longer than Jesus, dying at an older age, between 62-67 years of age. Peter was born c. 1 AD and died 64-67 AD, at age 62-67 years.
I don’t think we will know definitively, exactly how old St. Peter, the Bishop of Rome, was when he was martyred. But multiple sources state he was younger than Jesus when Jesus summoned him to be an apostle.
That is very interesting. Thank you for sharing this information with us all! I think there is a little more detail regarding Christ’s death from the Gospels. The most key piece of information is the eclipse of the sun (the hour of darkness) on the Cross. That makes it 33AD, And with the reliability of the Passover date, dictated by God Himself, we have a time of death as 3PM on April 3, 33AD (using the Julian Calendar). It makes me wonder where Peter was when Herod went after the boys two years old and under. I guess he was in Galilee, and safely away from Herod?
Regarding Christmas, I know it has been disregarded by some as being Dec. 25 because of when the flocks are in the field, but that’s been somewhat debunked. Flocks were outside most of the time. Where would they go?
A few more interesting points. From Wisdom we learn in Chapter 18:14 that “When the night was half-spent” the Divine Word leapt to earth (I’ll type out the exact words and post). Calculating ‘half spent’ as halfway between sunset and sunrise, it points to a birth about an hour before midnight. not in the early morning.
I’m interested in what anybody else has on the Christmas details too. I’ve been told that the calendar time between April 3 and Christmas Day is the same number of days as average human gestation. Christmas is also the least likely day to be born in our day and age, even less so than Feb. 29!) Anyway, I’m interested in the details for the sake of bible study of course, but also because Christmas is my birthday too. Peace to all!
Wisdom 18:14-16
“For while gentle silence enveloped all things,
and night in its swift course was now half gone,
15 thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne,
into the midst of the land that was doomed,
a stern warrior
16 carrying the sharp sword of thy authentic command,
and stood and filled all things with death,
and touched heaven while standing on the earth.”
Dedication of the year to St Joseph reminds me of an event at the second Vatican Council. One of the older cardinals was addressing the assemble about the value of St Joseph. When his short time was up, the other cardinals began to hiss him down. Pope John was listening on his closed circuit tv and was saddened by what he saw. The next day. John announced that St, Joseph would be added to the canon of the mass.