I
have not been a great admirer of Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger / Pope Benedict
XVI. Throughout my adult life, he has represented many negative aspects of Catholic theology and practice. My image of
the man shifted a few years ago,
when I came across a passionate defense of individual conscience written by Joseph Ratzinger in 1967, after the close of the Second Vatican Council. In it
he said:
“Over the Pope as expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there stands one’s own conscience which must be obeyed before all else, even if necessary against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority. This emphasis on the individual, whose conscience confronts him with a supreme and ultimate tribunal, and one which in the last resort is beyond the claim of external social groups, even the official Church, also establishes a principle in opposition to increasing totalitarianism.”
To my knowledge, Ratzinger/Pope Benedict never altered or renounced that definitive statement. I and countless other conscientious Catholics have quoted him repeatedly and held him to ownership of that theological position.
Why Benedict has decided to do on February 28, 2013, what no pope for seven centuries has done, is open to speculation (and runaway imagination). Whether it be for health and stamina reasons, as he publicly claims, or because an intransigent Vatican bureaucracy led him to throw in the towel (or both), I do admire this pope for handing over the office to a new and (somewhat) younger leader. That's not easy for power-for-lifers to do.
The Holy Spirit has forever been the people of God's "ace in the hole" and source of sure hope; "she" is the antithesis of the Vatican power structure that repeatedly mars the Roman Catholic "brand."
I hope for, but do not expect, a saintly revolutionary leader in the mold of John XXIII to arise from this conclave. What I pray for is a leader who will begin the process of inner conversion in Rome, one who will take seriously his title as "servant of the servants of God."
I hope for, but do not expect, a saintly revolutionary leader in the mold of John XXIII to arise from this conclave. What I pray for is a leader who will begin the process of inner conversion in Rome, one who will take seriously his title as "servant of the servants of God."
Our Catholic Church, like all other Christian churches and all other-than-Christian faith traditions is burdened with the millstone of fallible human nature. We Catholics will never get this "church thing" completely right. What we pray for is that we just won't keep getting it so terribly wrong. Yes, we're going to mess up the mission of Christ; but let's do it less and less, and in a spirit of humility and ongoing repentance.
