By David L.
When I found out Pope Benedict will be stepping down, I was a
surprised and a bit upset. I’ve found his writings deeply Catholic and
intellectually stimulating. He showed that we could, and ought to, value both tradition
and revitalization. A different pope, I thought, might take the Church in a bad
direction.
Eventually,
I realized I was thinking about it all wrong. It’s true that in the history of
the Church, some men who have sat in Peter’s seat are better than others.
However, Christ didn’t entrust the Church to Joseph Ratzinger personally; rather,
he entrusted it to St. Peter and his successors. The same Spirit that guided
the Church through Benedict will guide the Church into and through the next papacy.
We don’t follow Benedict merely because he is a brilliant theologian, but
because he is the Successor of Peter, and the Holy Spirit works through Peter’s
successor in a special way. As Cardinal Arinze said
recently: “God is always there. The Holy Spirit does not go on holidays. So,
there will be another pope!” Our faith is not in a man, but in God.
There’s
plenty of speculation over who will be the next pope. I don’t consider myself
above such speculation; I’ve got my favorites, and I'll probably spend a significant portion of my weekend reading u p on the papabili (likely candidates), because I'm a nerd for this kind of thing . However, regardless of who the conclave chooses, he’s
the Pope. We don’t need to completely subjugate our intellects and wills to
him, but he’ll be our shepherd. He’s the
rock of our faith. I’ll be upset if he tries to bring back more restrictions on
the Latin Mass, or if he doesn’t make speaking against abortion as prominent a
part of his agenda as recent popes have. However, I must be loyal to him as
a successor of Peter, because I trust in Christ and His Church.
Cardinal Arinze
noted, “Some people may be so shaken that it may change their perception [of
the Church]. My hope and prayer is that it may help many to get more mature in our
faith. Our faith is not on the Pope. It is on Christ, who is the foundation of
the Church. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and the same forever.”
Grounded in this faith in Christ, we can pray for Pope Benedict, and for the
Church in this transition.
Granted that as with any transition it's the Holy Spirit who provides us with another shepherd, do you see any danger with the precedent set by the resignation? Although Pope Benedict resigned on his own free will, could the precedent of resignation introduce a human factor to the ending of a papacy that wasn't there before? Is there a danger that future popes will be pressured by human agents to resign whereas before the only pressure to resign came from the divine agent who pulled the plug?
ReplyDeleteThe popes have been under constant human pressure, including pressure to resign, so I don't think that's entirely new. However, this could act as precedent for popes resigning because of old age, which really wasn't there before. I'm not really sure how that will play out.
DeleteWith regard to the resignation, I'm a bit more worried that it seems to reinforce the idea many people have, that the pope's job is mainly about traveling around the world and waving to people. People might lose focus on the spiritual in focusing on the material. So while I'm arguing for a greater trust in the Holy Spirit in this post, I'm not unaware that this resignation could be spun badly and that there could be implications.
I found your blog through St. Blog's Parish as one of the newest listings. Welcome to the Catholic Blogoshere!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Matthew! We're glad to see you reading, and be sure to comment and share your input! Let us know if you want to see us Catholic College punks comment on anything! God Bless!
Delete