Pope Benedict XVI’s Successor and Change in the Church - East Idaho News
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Pope Benedict XVI’s Successor and Change in the Church

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Getty 021413 PapalFlag?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1360867529274Hemera/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Catholics around the world just marked Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. But even this holiest period in the Church calendar seemed to be overshadowed by the stunning news just prior. Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, effective Feb. 28.

The most pressing questions are who Benedict’s successor will be and what changes, if any, the new pope may introduce.

As pontiffs before him had done, Benedict resisted forces of modernity, which called, for example, on a changing role for women. His successor is not likely to change course.

“The pope follows in the teaching of the Church. That’s over a 2,000-year-long tradition. A particular pope does not have the freedom to make choices that are contradictory to the tradition,” said Rev. Mark Morozowich, dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America, in an interview with ABC’s Christiane Amanpour.

Instead, Morozowich said he believed the next pope will continue to work on the issues of most pressing concern to the Catholic Church, including the sexual abuse scandal that first came to light more than a decade ago in the United States.

“Accountability is the key,” said Morozowich. “That a person might fall and might commit a sin is something that I think we all understand. But that these people have been protected and somehow allowed to go on is unconscionable. Benedict has made great steps in seeking forgiveness.”

“Vatileaks” was another scandal that plagued the pope’s reign. His personal butler, Paolo Gabriele, was convicted of aggravated theft for stealing and leaking documents that seemed to shine a light on power struggles, corruption and a lack of transparency at the Vatican.

“The Church continues to need to be transparent in all of its dealings,” said Morozowich. “Whether it be in evaluating clergy, whether it be the evaluation of its financial dealings, we have nothing to hide. We should be a very open house.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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