To say that the announcement of the Pope’s resignation has taken the world by surprise is to put it very mildly. However, with hindsight, there were signs of it coming. His visit to the tomb of Celestine V at L’Aquila, one of the very few popes who resigned, could have been an indication. Even more illuminating was what he told the German author Peter Seewald in an interview: Under some circumstances a pope would have not only a right but an obligation to resign.
This decision of the Pope required great humility and great courage. The Pope showed he had both
The Pope told the cardinals convoked in consistory: “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”
The first thing that strikes us in this statement is Benedict’s different reaction to old age and infirmity from that of his predecessor John Paul II. Pope Wojtyla had seen his remaining in office despite the state of his health as a witness of remaining faithful in all the circumstances of life. Many admired him for it although some felt that this choice may have weakened the ministry.
Benedict saw it differently. He gave great importance to the Petrine ministry becoming less efficacious if he persisted in carrying on without the mental and physical strength that the ministry demanded. This is not to say that one chose rightly and the other wrongly. God speaks differently to different people in similar situations. Discernment is done on a personal level and we can give witness in different ways.
Ultimately, both testimonies are valid. Benedict continued more or less in the footsteps of his predecessor. Both insisted on orthodoxy and both gave great importance to tradition. However, it seems that they had a different view of the papacy itself. John Paul had made the papacy ‘big’. His charisma helped him do this. A man of the media, he knew how to attract crowds and make every event look superlative.
Benedict did not have John Paul’s charisma, and in some ways he made the papacy ‘small’. However, this was not necessarily because of his lack of charisma; he may have done this intentionally. He wrote three outstanding encyclicals of great theological depth but he preferred to publish his best known work, the three volumes on the life of Christ, as a theologian, without assigning magisterial authority to them.
At his first World Youth Day, he turned from an adoring crowd chanting “Ben-ne-det-to” in silence to face the Eucharist.His resignation is a confirmation of this. As Gemma Simmonds puts it: “At one stroke he has demystified the office of Pope and made it possible for subsequent popes to resign when old age and infirmity take their toll without fearing that the Church will collapse or the sky fall in.”
It will be up to historians to assess Benedict’s papacy. Surely he has committed some gaffes, such as his citing a dialogue of olden times criticising Islam in the Regensburg lecture in 2006, his declaration in Africa about condoms vis-à-vis Aids and his lifting of the 20-year excommunication of a British bishop who had questioned the Holocaust.
On the other hand, he will also be remembered for various acts of courage, such as his visit to Turkey to mend the damage done at Regensburg, his determination to straighten up the mess created by paedophile priests and religious, which included the forced retirement of Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionnaires of Christ.
His papacy will probably also be remembered as a papacy of suffering. The last straw may have been the smuggling of documents from his office by Paolo Gabriele, his trusted butler. Gabriele said he had leaked confidential papers “for the good of the Church” because he realised the Pope was unaware of things of which he should have been aware.
The act of smuggling was given great coverage. The contents of the documents must have worried the Pope intensely. Possibly he saw some truth in Gabriele’s statement and his being unaware may have contributed to his decision to resign.
This decision of the Pope required great humility and great courage. The Pope showed he had both. Chances are that this will be the main act of his that will be remembered by history. Chances also are that this will be of tremendous good to the Church he loves so much.
Finally, Benedict XVI will also be greatly admired for his intimate relationship with Jesus. Through his books on the life of Christ he tries to answer the most important question that every Christian asks: Who is Jesus Christ? Answering it, Benedict tries to introduce Jesus Christ to us. Ultimately, this is the most important job of any pope, and Benedict did this superbly.
Fr Micallef is a member of the Society of Jesus.