The Pope Resigns

Pope Benedict will leave his post,
A move unprecedented.
This news has come as quite a shock
To those he represented.

The Pope before him to step down,
From info I could glean,
Was Gregory XII, who left
In – yes! – 1415!

No wonder headlines blast this news,
For even laymen’s ears
Must hear how jolting this must seem –
It’s been six hundred years!

The Church will locate someone new
By searching ‘round the globe;
And surely they will find the man
Deserving of that robe.

Yet even though his subjects bow
And kiss his Papal ring,
I think that being Pope must be
The world’s most stressful thing.

The problems in the Papacy
With which a Pope must cope,
Seem so colossal, candidates,
When asked, should just say “Nope!”