OAP spells Pope.

Now if you've been somewhere in outer space for the past day you might not have heard that the Pope has resigned. He's the first pope to resign in just under 6 centuries. And what's his reason? old age. He feels too frail to continue with his work for the catholic church and, if i'm honest, fair enough really... it's a hugely demanding role and it's not as if anyone has been going soft on him about his decisions because of his age (and rightly so, might i add).

Now it's all well and good the story of the Pope resigning but what i found most entertaining was that just hours after he announced his resignation lightning struck the Vatican. No, not metaphorically- real lightning... the kind that splinters across the sky... Now if that has not been taken as a sign or an omen by some fanatic somewhere then an opportunity has been missed. "God shall smite thee"- come on guys?! I'm certain that over the next few months there will be at least one new apocalypse prediction- brace yourselves for "28th of February...2013. The end of the World.... again... no, really, we're sure about this one!" 

But on a more serious note: Cardinals over 80 aren't allowed to vote for the next pope (Simon Cowell should totally get on that..."The pope factor"...deffo.)  which means that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who used to be the leader of the English and Welsh Catholic Church, will not be eligible to vote. Although the Catholic Church is adamant that England and Wales will still be involved as cardinals all discuss and talk amongst themselves, I can't help but think that it's a little unfair... 

So after a rather exciting time for the Catholic Church we begin to wonder who might replace Pope Benedict XVI (my money is on the favourite: Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana) and wonder whether anything will change... optimistically the church might get a bit more liberal? or am i asking too much?

Tip: keep tracking the development of this story... i have a feeling more lightning, omens and general buzz around the Pope is yet to come...