I was very surprised to hear that Pope Benedict is stepping down. That said, I saw a photo of him taken in the Vatican in November and I was shocked by how frail he looked, so I suspect that it will not be a long retirement.
Many people my age consider themselves to be JPII (Pope John Paul II) Catholics but I"m definitely a Pope Benedict girl! It's his books and biographies that line my bookshelves. He's a man of wisdom, humility, constancy, clarity and has a deep love of the Church.
The timing of the announcement seems good to me. On the one hand it's The Year of Faith, but on the other it gives the Cardinals time to elect a new Pope before World Youth Day in Rio and probably before Easter.
In terms of a successor I think they will choose an American. Where America goes the rest of the West seems to follow. An American Pope would be a real boost to Catholicism in the US. It might be someone who already has a lot of influence there e.g. Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
Pope Benedict seems to me to have made a wise and humble decision. His body may be failing but his mind appears to be as sharp as ever.
Interesting to read your thoughts Tonia...thoughtful as always:)
ReplyDeleteMy parish bulletin days that Pope Benedict has written more books than all the other Popes put together. Most of this output obviously occurred before he became Pope. He has taken an innovative step by resigning from the papacy. However good a Pope he may have been, if he had had the same number of years as Pope at a slightly younger age, he may have even been an even better one. Popes dying in office may have been a satisfactory concept when life expectation was shorter, but maybe not these days when much more is expected of a Pope. Perhaps it would have been a good idea for the doctrinally dogged "German Shepherd" to legislate that future Popes should resign at 75 years of age. Then a papal conclave might be sufficiently brave enough to elect a man who is in his prime. This time I think the cardinals will go for the man from Milan, but I hope they find a more exciting choice. I really had hoped that Cardinal Ratzinger would have taken his own name as Pope Joseph instead of Benedict. However "Big Ben" (Allan should like a Pope with this nickname) is clocking off and I wish him many enjoyable schnitzels and steins of bier and glasses of Rhein wein while he continues to play Mozart on his klavier and write more books for Tonia to put on her shelf. Regards ChrisM
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