The upcoming conclave has provoked a wave of speculation by the usual suspects: ideologues, propagandists and salesmen looking to further their agenda (left or right); journalists who need to keep this boon of a news cycle going; fear mongers, conspiracy theorists and prophecy hunters who will latch on to anything.
Pope Benedict the sedate intellectual has been working quietly, reorganizing the Holy See, making appointments and doing what he does best, writing and teaching in both an official and unofficial capacity. He has been a “transitional” pope, but his legacy may be much more significant than the media buzz suggests. This elderly pope who has spent the last clear-headed years he has conserving his energy and pacing himself in order to leave the Church in a position to do what it does best, survive and proclaim to the world, always old and decrepit, that Christ is the future.
He has stacked the deck for the conclave. We will reap what he has sown.
Mary Victrix 
Thank you; thank you; thank you, Father Angelo, for the video of Pope Benedict. It brought tears to my eyes–not because he is leaving but in gratitude to God for giving us the office of the Petrine Commission to guard the deposit of faith and to guide the Church free from error in doctrine and morals. I will have the same tears when I see the new pope on the balcony of St. Peter’s.
Bill,
You are welcome!
Dear Father Angelo,
I just came across something most disturbing. Some feminists–lesbians too, I believe–went to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris where the disrobed, rang bells, and sang: “Bye, Bye, Benedict.” Fools! There will soon be a new Benedict in the Vatican.
Spot on. Benedict has great humility and profound intellect enlivened by the Holy Spirit. He has spent himself in laying the foundation for the Church in the present and future age of moral implosion in the West and the scourge of Post Vatican 2 divisions. He and Blessed John Paul 2, as different as they are, worked in union to do this. Boyh men were perfect for the times.. Raised in war under Godless regimes.. They were honed and chosen by God for the task.