More conspiracy, secrets and revelation to be expected??

With his surprise resignation, 

Pope Benedict XVI has shocked the catholic world.

In his Ash Wednesday mass, marking the 40 day period of Lent, 

Benedict told his audience that he was resigning for the good of the church.

In his last public homily, 

Benedict XVI's words were harsh when he called for an end of "religious hypocrisy" 

and "rivalries" within the Catholic Church.

"The face of the Church is often marked by sins against the unity of the Church 

and the divisions between the clergy," said the pontiff, 

in what was his final conclusion while presiding, 

as the bishop of the Holy See of Rome 
in the Basilica of S. Peter.

Wearing the traditional purple vestments, 
proper of the Lenten celebrations, 
the pope took advantage of the Catholic period of penitance for sins 

to speak of "internal sins" and reminding the faithful that divisions 

within the church create fragility.

"The face that the Church presents - 

is sometimes disfigured," 

 said 

Benedict XVI,

before six dozen cardinals,  

pointing out the inconsistency of those who rebel against 

"the scandals and injustices committed by others" 

but are not "ready to act in his own heart, conscience and intentions." 

"I think about the attacks on the Church's unity 

and the divisions within the church body," 

said the pope, using his farewell message to make an appeal 

for a time of deep soul searching.

Under all these formal words, 

are many hidden secrets.

According to Patrícia Casção in "Sábado" magazine:

A thousand years ago, a period called "papal pornocracia", 

Vatican leaders were elected, manipulated 

and murdered by women described as "shameless whores."

Quoting Brenda Ralph Lewis in:

"A dark history: The Popes: 

Vice, Murder and Corruption in the Vatican," 

published last week in Portugal as:

"A história negra dos Papas",

pela Oficina do livro.

"When a Pope failed to appear in public, 

he had most likely been strangled. 

But he 

could 

also have been disfigured, like Stephen IX was, 

whose eyes, lips and tongue were cut out, and his hands cut off. 

Or he could have fled with the whole papal treasury, as Benedict V 

did. 

Or maybe he was just hidden somewhere in a brothel as often the majority did. 

Thus was the life of the Popes in the ninth and tenth centuries", 

says Brenda Ralph Lewis.

"During this period, called "the papal pornocracia," 

the leadership of the Catholic Church was associated with all sorts of crimes. 

Often, the victims were the Popes themselves: 

there were 24 popes between the years 872 and 904. 

Boniface VI (who was elected Pope, though he was twice deposed of as a priest,

 because of his immoral behavior) 

was only 15 days on the throne. 

Nobody knows what happened to him.

He may have been poisoned or murdered, 

because the struggle for the throne of St. Peter was fierce".

With Benedict's farewell words, 

referring to

 religious hypocricy

and internal rivalries

NOTHING has changed since those dark days.

Eagerly awaiting the next 

enfolding 

episodes of this never-ending story