{"id":3771,"date":"2005-04-20T16:00:26","date_gmt":"2005-04-20T20:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/04\/20\/the-new-popes-life-expectancy"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:57:47","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:57:47","slug":"the-new-popes-life-expectancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/04\/20\/the-new-popes-life-expectancy\/","title":{"rendered":"the new pope’s life expectancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Benedict16\" <\/span> B<\/em><\/strong>ecause he is 78 years old, a\u00a0lot of commentators seem to think that the new Pope, <\/span>Benedict XVI<\/span><\/a>, is likely to have a very short term, in a placeholder or interim papacy.<\/span>
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Norm Pattis at Crime & Federalism<\/span><\/a><\/em> even penned a post calling him “Pope Rigor <\/span>Mortis I,”<\/span><\/span> and offering a long-distance, photographically-based, negative assessment of Benedict’s “intellectual vigor.” [Norm, there are a lot<\/em> of octagenarians with intellectual<\/span> vigor and a lot of brash younger folk without it.\u00a0 I’ve seen no sign that Joseph Ratzinger’s much-praised and prolific brain has been in decline.]<\/span><\/div>\n
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growing old–
\nby the hearth’s light
\npiecework<\/span><\/div>\n
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… ISSA<\/span><\/a> , translated by David G. Lanoue<\/span><\/div>\n
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Although I’m hoping RiskProf<\/em> <\/span>Martin Grace<\/span><\/a> will use his expertise and\/or contacts to<\/span> come up with more specific LE numbers for Benedict XVI, I’ve decided to do some quick research.\u00a0\u00a0 I discovered:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n