Here's a thought. My fellow atheist friends may get this. And any science minded people may too.

But the Pope stepping down probably proves there is no God! Think about this. This is a man who routinely communicates with God himself. You don't think this guy prayed over and over for God to give him the strength and guidance to fulfill his duties as Pope?

The only logical conclusion or explanation is that God is either not there, or powerless to do/change anything.

No wonder Bush/Cheney and their Republican cohorts were able to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq! God didn't "allow" it, he/she had no power to stop them.

Just like God couldn't/didn't give the Pope the power to fulfill the duties he so willingly accepted.

God, is thought to be by some, all about personal responsibility. He/she and the Pope really dropped the ball on this one!

If God abandons innocent children, and the Pope, who DOES he help? I'm asking for provable, real help, not imagined help.

The Pope wouldn't have had to quit, had he had Gods help.

Or maybe God really is Muslim and just don't like the Catholic Church!

You can't prove a negative.

You just did.

Stony, no believer can prove that there is a God. Also, no atheist can prove that there isn't a God.

The old guy in the sky with a beard. As described by nobody who has actually claimed to have received messages from god.

Maybe he did seek God for guidance, and God got fed up and fired him!

It seems to me that in the future, God needs to develop a better vetting process for Popes.

If he were to ask me, which I don't expect he will, I would strongly advise him to pick a Pope that has nothing at all to do with protecting, hiding, transferring, and/or defending child-molesting priests.

BUT being he has to pick from the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, he may not be able to find one.

They may need to hire an Atheist Pope!

STONY, now you are just talking like a "man with a papal azz"!

It is my understanding that the President of Italy wants child sex abuse filed against the pedophile.

Cardinal Stony, are you going to Rome for the Conclave to select a new Pope?

Age of consent in PA = 16

Age of consent in Vatican City = 12

Quite the contrary. I would love to see justice. I would love to see the Catholic Church sued out of existence! Let the millions and millions of molested victims have a little justice.