Letter #26: Last

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Letter #26: Last

[2013-02-28]

[Engleză]

February 27, 2013, Wednesday -- Last

"A life which belongs totally to the work of God"

"I will no longer bear the authority of the office for the government of the Church, but in the service of prayer rest, so to speak, in the yard of St. Peter. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, will be a great example for me in this. He showed us the way to a life which, active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God." ("Non porto piů la potestŕ dell’officio per il governo della Chiesa, ma nel servizio della preghiera resto, per cosě dire, nel recinto di san Pietro. San Benedetto, il cui nome porto da Papa, mi sarŕ di grande esempio in questo. Egli ci ha mostrato la via per una vita, che, attiva o passiva, appartiene totalmente all’opera di Dio.") —Pope Benedict XVI today in St. Peter's Square, in his final public audience as Pope

Last General Audience

Today was the next-to-last day of Pope Benedict XVI's papacy.

Today he gave his final public address as Pope before an estimated 200,000 people in a packed St. Peter's Square, under an unusually warm February sun.

It was a beautiful day.

One of the signs held up in the piazza said, "Elect Benedict again!"

The cardinals may not be willing to do this, but the sign expressed a widespread feeling that there isn't a better choice right now, among the cardinals or in the whole world, to be the Bishop of Rome and successor of Peter.

And yet, the central point of the Pope's remarks today was that he himself -- the reigning pontiff, the one who holds the power of the keys to "bind and loose," the one who wears "the ring of the fisherman" and wields its authority -- has decided differently.

He has decided that someone else can be, or can function, as a better Pope, in the particular circumstances that now exist, given his age, his health, and given everything he knows about his own condition and the needs of the Church.

And so, tomorrow evening, after a morning meeting in Rome with his cardinals, who are gathering from around the world -- only 65 of them were present this morning -- Pope Benedict will fly by helicopter to Castel Gandolfo, a short distance outside of Rome, and the cardinals will undertake to meet in conclave and elect a new Pope.

(Note: The word "conclave" means "with a key" -- "con" is the Italian for the Latin "cum," "with," and "clave" is from the Latin word "clavis," "a key"; in the ablative form "clavis" becomes "clave," and that form is carried over directly into English; so "conclave" means "a gathering in a room locked with a key," or, "a gathering in secret, with no outsiders present to influence those who are meeting, all outsiders being kept outside a door locked with a key, until those who are meeting end their deliberations.")

Uncharted waters

All of this puts the Roman Catholic Church in uncharted waters, of course.

Everyone is aware of the questions:

Will the cardinals choose as the next Pope someone "in line" with Pope Benedict, or someone who will be dramatically different?

Then, will the two men speak together? Rarely? Often? Daily? Will the new Pope ask the old Pope for advice?

And then, does Benedict's decision to resign weaken the idea, and the reality, of the papal office? Until a few days ago, the papacy has always been considered an office (but also more than an office, a charism, a special service accompanied by a special grace, the grace of infallibility) to be held until the moment of death. Was that thinking incorrect? Was it incomplete?

And, does the resignation decision have ecumenical implications? Does it open the way to better relations with the Orthodox, and with some Protestants, for whom the Roman papacy, both in its theological claims and in its historical manner of functioning, has been seen as a "stumbling block" on the path toward possible Christian unity?

And, will the new Pope make dramatic changes in the Roman Curia, changes Pope Benedict might have made, or might have wished to have made, but was too old or tired to make, or for some other reason impeded from making?

Many questions... and there are many more.

But today was not a time for questions.

Today was time for a morning of peace, in the warm February sun.

The Pope drove into the Square in his Popemobile, accompanied by his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein (photo).

It took nearly half an hour for the Pope to reach the front of the Square and take his chair on the sagrato, that consecrated area of the piazza which is raised above the level of the main square, just in front of the facade of the basilica.

On one side sat cardinals and archbishops -- as I said, I counted 65 cardinals present. On the other side, the diplomatic corps, representatives of governments from around the world.

The Pope then spoke, gave his teaching in Italian, and at the end of his speaking, after greeting the crowd in several foreign languages, all that vast throng prayed the Our Father, singing the prayer in Latin.

The Pope then rode in his popemobile out of the square, and the 348th, and last, papal general office of this nearly 8-year pontificate, was over.

A "double helix" linking Peter to Peter...

There was no dramatic announcement. The Pope did not say anything that from a "news" perspective was extraordinary.

Or did he?

Upon reflection, what Benedict said today had quite profound importance: what he said seemed to render his decision to resign, in some way, "irreversible."

That is, he seemed to make the idea of a pontiff resigning part of the ordinary landscape of the papacy.

This is a remarkable shift, considering that 16 days ago, on February 11, when he announced his decision to resign, the idea of a papal resignation was almost unthinkable -- had not in fact been thought for 700 years, and had not been thought in this precise way ever. (The circumstances of previous papal resignations were all quite different.)

In this sense, what Benedict did by resigning on February 11, and what he did today during his General Audience by "codifying" that decision, together make up the greatest single revolutionary act of his pontificate, and of his life.

Here is the relevant part of the talk today, which I will try to analyze paragraph by paragraph.

"In recent months, I felt that my strength had decreased, and I asked God earnestly in prayer to enlighten me with his light to make me take the right decision not for my sake, but for the good of the Church." ("In questi ultimi mesi, ho sentito che le mie forze erano diminuite, e ho chiesto a Dio con insistenza, nella preghiera, di illuminarmi con la sua luce per farmi prendere la decisione piů giusta non per il mio bene, ma per il bene della Chiesa.")

Here the Pope introduces the subject of his resignation.

He sets it against the background of his declining strength. He does not say it, but this includes his fall in the night where he hit his head causing bleeding last March in Mexico; his declining sight in one eye; his inability to sleep at night; his exhaustion at the end of a long day of appearances; the looming burden of the multiple, long liturgies at Easter; and the looming burden of World Youth Day this summer in Brazil, though his doctor a few months ago told him that he should not take any more international flights for health reasons.

But despite all of this, he is not interested in his own health, his own life, but in what would be good for the Church.

"I have taken this step in full awareness of its severity and also newness, but with a deep peace of mind. Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult choices, suffering (in the process of deciding), having always before one the good of the Church and not oneself." ("Ho fatto questo passo nella piena consapevolezza della sua gravitŕ e anche novitŕ, ma con una profonda serenitŕ d’animo. Amare la Chiesa significa anche avere il coraggio di fare scelte difficili, sofferte, avendo sempre davanti il bene della Chiesa e non se stessi.")

"Allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005. The severity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that moment on I had been given my task to carry out always and forever by the Lord." ("Qui permettetemi di tornare ancora una volta al 19 aprile 2005. La gravitŕ della decisione č stata proprio anche nel fatto che da quel momento in poi ero impegnato sempre e per sempre dal Signore.")

Here is the place where Benedict states that his election to the papacy was something, "always" and "forever." And "forever" would seem to exclude any sort of resignation.

"Always – he who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy..." ("Sempre – chi assume il ministero petrino non ha piů alcuna privacy...")

He is repeating the word "always." This is clearly what was on his mind as he wrestled with his decision. He is letting us see inside his decision-making process. We can almost see him saying to himself: "Always... but I am too weak... always... but I am unable to do what I must do, for the Church's good... Yet I am committed, and made a commitment, to continue always..."

Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com

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