He didn’t make a vow to be Pope until death. But aside from that, he’s obviously in very poor health (although personally, I think that undefinable disease, a “broken heart,” may have had something to do with his physical health, after all the betrayals he has experienced from those within the Vatican itself). He felt that the state of the Church was too urgent to wait for him to die, which with modern medicine can take much longer than it used to, even though the person is no longer capable of doing much...and certainly not capable of being Pope!
Don’t forget that he watched JPII die for years, and while it was edifying to us to see how bravely JPII bore it, the government of the Church was essentially adrift, and one of the problems that BXVI had upon becoming Pope was that everybody had gotten so accustomed to doing without a pope, in essence. They were not obedient and they had formed their own little spheres of control, which they had no intention of ceding to a pope again.
I think he has worked hard and succeeded in restoring the concept of Pope, which is not his personal possession or something defined by him personally, but refers to the office, the Chair of Peter. But if he lingered to die, it is very likely that it would all be lost again, and things are too urgent for the Church right now to risk letting it drift without a hand on the tiller.
Well said.
Plus add to that, those three books about the life and times of Jesus, that Pope Benedict XVI, Emertius had written, though they are excellent reads, but are very deep, must have also taken its toll on B16 and his health.
“Don’t forget that he watched JPII die for years, and while it was edifying to us to see how bravely JPII bore it, the government of the Church was essentially adrift, and one of the problems that BXVI had upon becoming Pope was that everybody had gotten so accustomed to doing without a pope, in essence. They were not obedient and they had formed their own little spheres of control, which they had no intention of ceding to a pope again.”
That paragraph that you wrote hit it right on the nail. Watching JP2 “die” during the last 5 years or so of JP2’s life in essense as his right hand man broke his heart. Plus I sense he did not want be Pope being he was older but had the “duty” to be Pope so that in essense, leadership could be restored.