POPE BENEDICT' HEADS INTO HIS FINAL DOZEN DAYS AS THE SUCCESSOR OF ST. PETER.............

Pope Benedict XVI concludes the shocking week of his announcement that he is resigning as Holy Father on the last day of February, and retiring into a renovated Vatican convent, "hidden from the world", for the rest of his life; and enters the last twelve days of his nearly 8 year Papacy. He will deliver his second to last Sunday Angelus Prayer and Blessing from his Window out onto St, Peter's Square, and then by going on his annually scheduled Lenten Spiritual Retreat, which begins tomorrow, the 1st Sunday of Lent.  Next Saturday February 23rd, he returns from his Lenten Retreat, and will deliver his last Angelus Blessing the next day, and then on Thursday February 28th, at 5 p.m. Roman Time, will fly by helicopter from Vatican City, to Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the Pope, where he is scheduled to remain for two months while the cloistered convent he will reside in permanently in retirement has renovations completed.  The German journalist Peter Seewald, who authored the book in 2010, in which Benedict XVI first broached the possibility of resignation, has punlished an article in the German magazine, "Focus", is saying that on a visit with the Pope two and a hald months ago, he asked the Holy Father, "What more could be expected from his Papacy ?".  Seeward quotes Pope Beneduct as responding, "From me ?  Not much from me.  I;m an old man and the strength is ebbing.  I think what I've done is enough".  Journalist and 2010 Papal Co-Author Seewald proceeds in the current magazine article to express his concern for Pope Benedict's health and well being.  "his hearing had deteriorated".  "He couldn't see with his left eye".  "His body had become so thin that the tailors had difficulty keeping up with newly fitted clothes"..."I'd never seen him so exhausted-looking, so worn down"...Pope Benedict's Ash Wednesday Mass appearance in St. Peter's Basilica underscores his slowness in movement and the physical assistance he needs when presiding over liturgical ceremonies.  And most Roman liturgies are multi hour celebrations.  All in all, it solidifies the proper decision Pope Benedict XVI has made for himself and for the greater good of the Cgurch.............Fr.  Troy