Gone up in smoke

That is what will happen when a successor is named to Pope Benedict XVI, rather than a self-immolation of the Bishop of Rome himself.  It may be the first time a pope has resigned in 598 years (why could he not hold on another two years to make it more neat?), but if he feels infirm (and prey to manipulative aides), then this is an eminently sensible decision to take.  Some have compared the role to that of the Queen, Elizabeth II; however, though her defined role is to be a figurehead and say nothing controversial, the pope is meant to be a figurehead and deliver controversial messages, constantly exhorting the spiritual side of life in battle against materialism.

Being the first occurrence in modern times, it also sets a precedent an example of which Benedict’s successors can also exercise.  The Catholic Church needs a strong leader and there are times when it is right to be a meek shepherd and times when a stand needs to be taken.  Like former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan William, Benedict was rather bookish and his theological ponderings were so intellectual as to be misconstrued, either out of malice or prejudice-flecked ignorance.  This is not to say he was infallible – it was divisive move to try and lure Anglicans disaffected by the rise of woman within the Church of England to an annex of Roman Catholicism.  And there were the silly things he said about condemns before latterly modifying his position to one with more empathy.

Given that he is dispensing with the idea of dying in office, I wonder what other non-Biblical traditions that the Roman Catholic hierarchy have built up over the centuries.  Certainly, the invocation that priests cannot marry and must abstain from sex should bite the dust as it was only introduced in the High Middle Ages – the Catholic Church needs to shed this demand, both to attract new candidates and diminish the chance of hidden sexual predators entering their midst.  What can be said with confidence is that Timothy Garton-Ash’s prediction (prophecy?) in The Guardian in 2005 that Christianity would be finished by the end of Benedict’s tenure was utter tripe, though the article’s multiple inherent logical fallacies (e.g. that the Christianity is monolithic and Roman Catholicism all there is to it) were fairly obvious at the time. 

It will be interesting how Benedict is to now be referred.  He can’t really be called ‘Your ex-Holiness’ or ‘Your ex-Excellency’.  That will tax the Vatican bureaucracy as to speak of Benedict in negation will not do, if he is still to be called Benedict at all, for that matter.

 There is much talk of the Catholic Church of opting for an African or Latin American pope, but there was this chatter just before Cardinal Ratzinger was elected in 2005.  The conclave is still dominated by European cardinals though only a third of the Church is in Europe (and, then, commitment is open to question more than in other parts of the world).  What would really set the cat among the pigeons would be to elect pope one of the underground Catholic cardinals in China.  Beijing would not be amused but what odds a Mandarin Karol Wojtyła working a similar magic in another communist domain?