The challenge Pope Benedict has left for his successor—and for ordinary Catholics

Catholic Culture ^ | February 11, 2013 | Phil Lawler

[NYer]

Although Pope Benedict caught nearly everyone by surprise when he announced his resignation, we can’t say that he didn’t give us fair warning. In an interview in 2010, the Holy Father explained at some length why a Pope should resign when he no longer had the strength to carry out his duties. He even said at the time: “I also notice that my forces are diminishing.”

For months now, visitors to the Vatican have reported evidence of the Pope’s physical decline. He not only needs help walking because of aching joints, but also has trouble concentrating through a long work session because of flagging energy. After a nap his mind is as sharp as it ever was, but the need for rest is coming more frequently. Apparently the Pope assessed his own condition—humbly, prayerfully, and unsparingly—and concluded that he can no longer do the work.

The decision must have been a painful one, because Pope Benedict still has several cherished projects to complete: the liturgical “reform of the reform,” the completion of the Year of Faith, the new encyclical. An ordinary man would no doubt struggle to complete those last few projects, even if he knew that his strength was failing. But Benedict XVI is no ordinary man.

This has been a pontificate of surprises. The most important announcements have come without accompanying fanfare, without premature news leaks. Yet when he has taken action, Benedict XVI has always been decisive. His resignation announcement is no exception.

As my colleague Jeff Mirus points out, a papal resignation is not unprecedented. But nothing of the kind has occurred in this era of instant worldwide communication. From this day forward, for better or worse, every Roman Pontiff will face questions about if, or when, he plans to resign. The Twitter generation will begin asking questions whenever a Pope experiences a health crisis. (Is it possible to serve as a Pope while fighting early-stage cancer or heart disease? With failing eyesight?) More ominously, the same sort of questions will arise when the Pope loses a popularity poll; the political pressures on the papacy are sure to increase.

Count on it: The mass media will remark with surprise that the next Pope, whoever he is, is “conservative” on doctrinal issues, because he upholds perennial Church teachings on matters such as the male priesthood and the dignity of human life. The secular media cannot be made to understand that every plausible candidate for the papacy is “conservative” by their standards, since the papabile are all believing Catholics. An unbelieving world, accustomed to appraising all disagreements in political terms, cannot comprehend that the Bishop of Rome has no personal discretionary authority on questions of doctrine: that he can only teach what the Church teaches. So the pressure on the new Pope will begin from the day of his election; the media will demand radical change, and attack him when he fails to meet their expectations. Pope Benedict has endured this sort of pressure for nearly 8 years now, and never buckled. But the hostility of the mainstream media have undoubtedly taken their toll, as they will on his successors.

In retrospect we can see that Pope Benedict has been preparing for his own departure. If he has been contemplating resignation for months, as his brother reports, it is much easier to understand why he called two consistories within the space of one year. He wanted to ensure an appropriate balance within the College of Cardinals, among the men who will choose his successor. He chose to step down now, no doubt, so that he will not leave that successor burdened with too many tasks that he himself was unable to complete.

So now Pope Benedict has left us, the faithful, with a task of our own. We have a day to swallow the news of his resignation, and another day to digest it. Then Ash Wednesday will arrive, and we must all buckle down to a season of prayer and fasting for the good of the Church, and especially for the strength of Benedict’s successor.

[BipolarBob]

Frankly I don’t know why I’m the one here defending the Cardinal voting process. But let’s look at the facts.
#1 Catholic means universal, but your universe only includes Western Civilization.
#2 I’ve told you I don’t believe in AA and you repeated it back to me but then add I’d probably vote for Hilary so we’d have a woman president. You must have a logic repellant or a lack of comprehension that needs looked into.
#3 I don’t have a vote on the next Pope and neither do you. There’s probably a good reason for that.
#4 Your use of “my kind” betrays your bigotry. If they are Catholic, baptized and accepted by the Church officials then you should accept that person as “your kind” regardless of race or origin. Jesus does. Or do you presume to know better than Him or the Cardinals?

[flaglady47]

“#4 Your use of “my kind” betrays your bigotry. If they are Catholic, baptized and accepted by the Church officials then you should accept that person as “your kind” regardless of race or origin. Jesus does. Or do you presume to know better than Him or the Cardinals?”

Sorry, you obviously miss my point. If you can find me a conservative black American or latino American or Western country Cardinal such as a Spaniard, who has the skills for the Office, then bully. I want a Pope with western values through and through, and conservative. The former Italian Popes must be rolling over in their graves with no Italian Pope for so long. It seems to be let’s have anything but an Italian Pope nowadays, poor Italians. By the way, what color was Jesus? Just curious. I guess we can have the same “kind” of Pope as Jesus was, wouldn’t you say? Or don’t you like your kind.

[flaglady47]

“Frankly I don’t know why I’m the one here defending the Cardinal voting process. But let’s look at the facts.”

P.S., we aren’t discussing the voting process. It is as it always has been. That’s not the problem. The problem will be if the cardinals who are voting do so from a PC position of now we must have an African Pope or a Latin Pope, or an Oriental Pope. No, have a western civilization Pope to lead the flock, and that person will be Pope to all nationalities where Catholics reside. But we don’t need a non-western Pope to lead the flock, do we. The western ones have done a pretty good job for all these years. I’m voicing my preference. I’m standing up for my western heritage, not one that is alien to western values. Each to their own. By the way, am I talking to the manic Bob or the depressive Bob. Maybe that’s the problem here.

[Religion Moderator]

Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.

[flaglady47]

“Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.”

I assure you it’s not. BP Bob won’t let go of my giving my opinion to which I am entitled. I’m off this thread now anyway, as the debate is going nowhere. He doesn’t understand me, and I him. My comment was meant tongue in cheek because of what he has named himself. Well, the discussion is over anyway as I am on another thread about what’s happening in CA. Just hope we get a really good Pope.

[Cronos]

don't forget CArdinal Ivan Dias from India.

I don't want to see a European, definitely not an Italian.

you never know about an American or Canadian -- who would have thought in 197 9 that a Polish guy would become Pope?

God's choices are not ours...

[Cronos]

Europe has come close to demolishing Christianity in the last century, and it’s highly unlikely, given the influx of Islamic immigrants, that it will ever return to that golden age.

'Europe' is too blanket a word. I live in Poland, have lived here for 2 years now and no, Christianity is not diminishing here. Neither is it in Hungary or Croatia or Serbia or Bulgaria

Even in near godless France or England I've been to Catholic Churches that have a small, but intensely devout congregation. In England I've seen similar devotion among the Baptist and Coptic Churches there, but the Anglicans are dead man walking

Also, to you, flaglady47 , I recommend reading "PHILIP JENKINS - THE LOST HISTORY OF cHRISTIANITY" -- some excerpts

About 780 AD, the bishop Timothy became patriarch, or catholicos, of the Church of the East, which was then based at the ancient Mesopotamian city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (in modern day Iraq). He was then 52 and lived on into his nineties, dyuing in 823 AD.

At every stage, Timothy's career violates everything we think we know about the history of Christianity -- about its geographical spread, its relationship with political state power, its cultural breadth, and its interactions with other religions. In terms of his presitge, and the geographical extent of his authority, Timothy was arguably the most significant Christian spiritual leader of his day , much more influent than the Patriarchs in Rome and Constantinople -- Perhaps a quarter of the world's Christians looked to Timothy as both spiritual and political head.

.....

Well into the Middle Ages, the Christian strongholds of the Middle East included such currently newsworthy Iraqi cities as Basra, Mosul and Kirkuk, while Tikrit -- hometown of Saddam hussein -- was a thriving Christian center several centuries after the coming of Islam.

Focusing on the Asian, Eastern story of Christianity forces us to jettison our customary images of the so-called Dark Ages. From Timothy's point of view, the culture and learning of the ancient world had never been lost...

The Church of the East still thought and spoke in Syriac, and its adherents continued to do so for several centuries afterward. As late as the thirteenth century, they still called themselves Nasraye "Nazaarenes". Monks and priests bore the title rabban

..

To appreciate the scale of the Church of the East, we can look at the list of hte Church's metropolitans -- that is, of those senior clergy. in england, the medieval church had 2 metropolitans: York and Canterbury. Timothy himself presided over nineteen metropolitans and 85 bishops. Just in Timothy's lifetime, new metropolitan sees were created near Tehran, in Syria, Turkestan etc. Arabia had at least 4 sees and Timothy created a new one in Yemen. And the Church was growing in southern India

Timothy reported the conversion of the Turkish great king, the khagan, who then ruled over much of central Asia. He mentioed in 780 AD how :in these days the Holy Spirit has anointed a metropolitan for the Turks, and we are preparing to consecrate another one for the Tibetans"

The Church operation in Syriac, Persian, Turkish, Soghdian and Chinese

....

When Timothy died in 823, he had every reason to hope for his Church's future. The new caliph was friendly to Christian clergy and scholars, and although some ordinary Christians were drifting toward the new faith, there were few signs of any ruinous defections. Even if conditions under Islamic rule ever did become difficutl, the Church of the East had plenty of opportunities to grow outside that realm, with all the new conversions in central Asia and china, and the continuing presence in India.

Any reasonable projection of the Christian future would have foreseen a bipolar world, divided between multiethnic churches centered respectively in Constantinople and Baghdad. Timothy would hprobably have felt little hope for the future of Christianity in western Europe. Already in Timothy's last days, Charlemagen's vaunted empire was fragmenting, and falling prey to the combined assaults of the pagan Norsemen and Muslims Saracens. In the century after 790, ruin and massacre overtook virtually all the British and Irish monasteries that had kept learning alive over the previous two centuries, and from which missionaries ahd gone out to evangelize northern Europe. Spain was already under Muslim rule, and southern Italy and southern France seemed to follow. In 846 Saracens raided Rome, plundering the Basilica of Saint Peter and the tomb of Peter.

Latin Europe's low point came soon after 900 when, within the space of a couple of years, areas of central France were ravaged in quick succession by pagan Vikings from the north, Muslim Moors from the south and pagan Magyars from the east: Christians had nowhere left to hide. Perhaps history would ultimately write off the Christian venture into western Europe as rash overreach, a diversion from Christianity's natural destiny, which evidently lay in Asia. Europe might have been a continent too far

[Cronos]

I'm sorry flaglady, but the tradition of the Church (as I showed in my excerpts above) are not restricted to one continent

Christianity is a world religion, in origin definitely NOT western -- we are an Eastern religion, well, Middle-Eastern

I'm Catholic btw, and the Church is, well, Catholic -- which the Western Patriarich (the Bishop of Rome) is the first among equals, there are equals as the Patriarchs of the Catholic Chaldean Church, the Maronite Catholic etc.

As part of the wider Catholic Church we see that the European component is, just a component

Non-Catholic westerners like Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Baptists etc. make the same mistake many of us Catholics make in just seeing Christianity through the prism of Europe

This is incorrect -- the first Christian nations were in Asia -- Armenia or Georgia OR in Africa (Ethiopia)

Some of the greatest fathers of the Church were from Africa - St. Augustine of Hippo for one or the numerous fathers from Alexandria

in fact, right up until the Islamic conquest we see the great schools of religion as being in Alexandria or Antioch -- not even among the Orthodox. Yes, they did ask the Pope as arbitrator, but the dynamism was in the East (and that kind of tells me why the Pope was kept as the arbitrator, lets say the office to be required to give infallible decisions -- because the Bishops of Rome kept away from the various theological upheavals and stayed true, so were the best to provide the Spirit driven decision)

From the Orient, come on, the Mongol tribe of the Naiman were Christians before the Hungarians or Slavs or Baltics were Christians

[Cronos]

And there is no politically correct piece about choosing an AFrican or Asian

no one's going to put a black guy as Pope just because he's black

Cardinal Turkson is quite conservative, in fact more conservative than many Italian Cardinals

And Cardinal Ivan Dias from India has publically stated that gays can be cured and that abortion of any kind is a heinuous sin

These guys are highly conservative and very good for the Church and they just happen to be of a different skin color

[Cronos]

As Mach9 said The choice is not ours or even the cardinals’, it’s the Holy Ghost’s. -- that's true. Again I say -- tell anyone in 1979 that the next Pope would not be an Italian, in fact would be the first Slavic Pope, a guy from communist country and they'd laugh in your face

I've met Poles from that generation who were stunned when it happened, but they thought in 1979, even after Pope JP II came to Warsaw to celebrate 1000 years of Christianity in Poland and chanted "Poland and Christianity are intertwined and can never be separated" with the communists glowering, they never believed that 6 years later they would be freed of the commies and that 12 years later the USSR would collapse.

God's will is incredible -- whatever we expect, He has other plans

[Cronos]

sorry, flaglady but your statement is flat out wrong What you say, of course, is ridiculous. If you want a worldwide communion, then it appears YOU are the globalist. Yes, Catholicism has spread all over the world, but it is still a Western religion, with all of its strong roots in the West, and no, I don’t want ANY MORE PC BALONEY. Comprende? (just a little globalist lingo).

Catholicism is rooted in Jerusalem, in Asia, we are Maronite, Latin, Chaldean, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, etc.

There is no PC baloney about this

Catholicisms roots in just one -- the Maronite Church in Lebanon/Syria, date back to the 2nd century, in another, the Syro-Malabar in India to St. Thomas the Apostle Himself

If one limits only to "roots" then there can be no Pope from outside the Mediterranean countries -- no German or Slavic popes, not even English as they were Germanic barbarians

[Cronos]

flaglady Well, what percentage of Africa is Roman Catholic? -- 158 million out of 1 billion -- that's 13% and due to grow to 23% by 2025

The Americas are 49% -- and from LA alone is 32%

Asia is 11%

europe is 27%

So, LA+APAC+Africa = 32+11+13 = 56% of Catholics are not from NA or Europe

so yeah, the bulk of Catholics TODAY are in Asia+Africa+LatinAmerica

Catholicism started in Jerusalem on the day of the Pentecost -- as the Pope said, we are the Church of the Pentecost, so we didn't "start" in Europe

Christianity is much bigger than any one region - we may be dying out in the Middle East, the place we started, but we are growing elsewhere and we will return to the ME

[Cronos]

You sell your own kind short, unless of course, you aren’t of western kind.

Err.. the only "kind" that GSD is, or I or you or NYer are is Christian. I see Turkson as conservative Christian just as Dolan is or the Canadian Cardinal.

Whoever is chosen by the Holy Spirit will be conservative Christian, whatever his "kind" of skin color

[Cronos]

Who said no Cajun or person who has white skin? No one. No one mentioned skin color at all

btw, the Latin Americans can be nearly purely European

Here's the list of cardinals and Dolan is 63, a good age. I'd like to have him or Turkson -- seeing them in terms of just color of their skin is wrong.

[Cronos]

Well I do care, and I am of western heritage, and Catholicism is a western heritage religion that should be led by a western heritage Pope.

Wrong again. Catholicism if anything has its roots in the Middle East -- many of the earliest popes were from Syria, a couple from North Africa

Turkson is as much of "Western heritage" as you or I or Dolan

[Mach9]

Yes, the former Soviet countries seem to be faring better than the free ones—but not all are like Poland which never caved to atheism. It’s mainly the never-communist nations that are suffering the loss of orthodoxy—Ireland may be worse than France, and Scandinavia’s worse than Germany, Switzerland, Greece, and Italy. Spain’s never been weaker. Not that there aren’t pockets of piety utterly without influence, treated as troglodyte strongholds. And my experience with Hungarian & Baltic immigrants doesn’t convince me that the faith’s anywhere near what it was when Mindszenty was around; except for two Romanians (who escaped in the late 60s), they’ve all been atheists (and, to be fair, younger than 50). Then again, D. C. may not be the desired destination for incoming Christians.

[NYer]

The tradition of the church is not, nor ever has been, in Africa. It is a Western world religion, not an African or South American continent religion. There are no historical roots in Africa. And not that much in South America. And none in the Orient either.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you have written but some clarification needs to be made. First off, the Catholic Church is both Western and Eastern.

Although it is not widely known in our Western world, the Catholic Church is actually a communion of Churches. According to the Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, the Catholic Church is understood to be "a corporate body of Churches," united with the Pope of Rome, who serves as the guardian of unity (LG, no. 23). At present there are 22 Churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The new Code of Canon Law, promulgated by Pope John Paul II, uses the phrase "autonomous ritual Churches" to describe these various Churches (canon 112). Each Church has its own hierarchy, spirituality, and theological perspective. Because of the particularities of history, there is only one Western Catholic Church, while there are 21 Eastern Catholic Churches. The Western Church, known officially as the Latin Church, is the largest of the Catholic Churches. It is immediately subject to the Roman Pontiff as Patriarch of the West. The Eastern Catholic Churches are each led by a Patriarch, Major Archbishop, or Metropolitan, who governs their Church together with a synod of bishops. Through the Congregation for Oriental Churches, the Roman Pontiff works to assure the health and well-being of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

While this diversity within the one Catholic Church can appear confusing at first, it in no way compromises the Church's unity. In a certain sense, it is a reflection of the mystery of the Trinity. Just as God is three Persons, yet one God, so the Church is 22 Churches, yet one Church.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes this nicely:

"From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by a great diversity which comes from both the variety of God's gifts and the diversity of those who receive them... Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions. The great richness of such diversity is not opposed to the Church's unity" (CCC no. 814).

Although there are 22 Churches, there are only eight "Rites" that are used among them. A Rite is a "liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony," (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 28). "Rite" best refers to the liturgical and disciplinary traditions used in celebrating the sacraments. Many Eastern Catholic Churches use the same Rite, although they are distinct autonomous Churches. For example, the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Melkite Catholic Church are distinct Churches with their own hierarchies. Yet they both use the Byzantine Rite.

To learn more about the "two lungs" of the Catholic Church, visit this link:

CATHOLIC RITES AND CHURCHES

The Vatican II Council declared that "all should realize it is of supreme importance to understand, venerate, preserve, and foster the exceedingly rich liturgical and spiritual heritage of the Eastern churches, in order faithfully to preserve the fullness of Christian tradition" (Unitatis Redintegrato, 15).

A Roman rite Catholic may attend any Eastern Catholic Liturgy and fulfill his or her obligations at any Eastern Catholic Parish. A Roman rite Catholic may join any Eastern Catholic Parish and receive any sacrament from an Eastern Catholic priest, since all belong to the Catholic Church as a whole. I am a Roman Catholic practicing my faith at a Maronite Catholic Church. Like the Chaldeans, the Maronites retain Aramaic for the Consecration. It is as close as one comes to being at the Last Supper.

At the most recent consistory to elevate new cardinals, the Holy Father appointed two from the East: Maronite Patriarch Bechara Cardinal Rai and Syro-Malabar Major Archbishop Mar George Cardinal Alencherry. In retrospect, his reason for doing so was to add their voices to the electorate.

Insofar as the continent of Africa, perhaps you are not aware that the Catholic Church has 3 popes that hailed from Africa The African Popes of the Roman Catholic Church

As we catholics enter Lent, it is important to pray for Pope Benedict and the cardinals who will be selecting his successor.

[livius]

I don’t think anybody is saying the Pope has to be an African; Turkson was simply one of the people under discussion. I don’t think he’d be a very good choice, partly because I don’t think Africa yet has the “ecclesiastical infrastructure” to provide him with support outside of the Curia, partly because he is advocating for some crazy “world economy” scheme, and finally because he has been giving press interviews since yesterday telling people what he will do as Pope!

But aside from that, the Church creates its own culture, that is, Christian culture, which may be expressed a little differently here and there but as long as it is the product of orthodox Christian thought (the duty of the Pope is to maintain this) will produce unity and a coherent common culture. Western culture, after all, is nothing but the product of orthodox Christianity.

[Salvation]

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