By Chiara Vasarri & Flavia Krause-Jackson
Pope Benedict
XVI, saying he no longer has the strength to lead the world’s 1.2
billion Catholics, will resign from the papacy at the end of the month,
the first such abdication in almost 600 years.
Pope Benedict XVI arriving to
pray in front of the nativity crib in Saint Peter's Square after
celebrating the Vespers and Te Deum prayers in Saint Peter's Basilica at
the Vatican in this file photo. Photographer: Andreas Solaro/AFP via
Getty Images
Pope Benedict XVI. Photographer: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images
“After having repeatedly
examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my
strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate
exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he said today in an address to senior
church officials in Rome.
Pope Benedict, the 265th leader of the
Roman Catholic Church, said his resignation would take effect at 8 p.m.
on Feb. 28. He will step down two months before his 86th birthday after
serving for almost eight years as pontiff after succeeding John Paul II.
The
resignation of Benedict may reopen rifts within the Church as pressure
builds to name a pope from the developing world where Catholicism is
growing much faster than in Europe and the U.S. The new pope will be
chosen through a conclave, a special gathering of cardinals who are
sequestered in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican until they can agree on
a successor.
Demographic Shift
About 70 percent of the
world’s Catholics now hail from the developing world, where the general
population is also growing at a much faster clip than in Europe and the
U.S. The faith is expanding most rapidly in Africa, with the continent
providing a growing share of the ranks of the global priesthood.
“If
you go back 100 years, three-fourths of Catholics were in the developed
world, now those numbers are reversed, it would be fair to reflect
that,” said Rev. Robert Wister Professor of Church History at Seton Hall
University said in a telephone interview.
Ghanaian Cardinal
Peter Turkson, 64, is the 9-4 favorite to become the next pope,
according to Irish betting site Paddy Power Plc. Canada’s Marc Ouellet, 68, is second favorite at 5-2, followed by Nigeria’s Francis Arinze, 80, at 3-1.
Pope Benedict will have no role in choosing his successor, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi
said at a press conference in Rome. The pope will initially retire to
his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo before transferring to live in a
convent, Lombardi said.
Obama, Cameron
World leaders offered their support for the pope’s decision. U.S. President Barack Obama
said in an e-mailed statement that his prayers were with Pope Benedict
and that he wished “the best” to those who will choose his successor.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement that Benedict “will be missed as a spiritual leader to millions.”
Benedict
will become the first pontiff to resign since Gregory XII, who was
pressured to step down in 1415 to resolve a schism that had divided the
church. The previous pope to quit was Celestine V in 1294 after reigning
for five months. Many literature experts identify him as the nameless
figure Dante Alighieri sees among those in the antechamber of Hell in
his Divine Comedy, deemed by the poet as someone “who by his cowardice
made the great refusal.”
Today’s announcement took even senior church officials by surprise, Lombardi said. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on the sidelines of an event in Milan that he was very shaken by the unexpected news, Ansa reported.
Moral Relativism
A
traditionalist, Benedict succeeded John Paul II in April 19, 2005 after
spending a quarter century as the enforcer of doctrine in an office
formerly known as the Inquisition. A scholar, Benedict spent years
penning by hand his philosophical take on the life of Jesus Christ in a
three-volume book. He was an enemy of “moral relativism” and considered
it his main job to resist some of the changes sweeping modern society.
He
strengthened the Church’s opposition to women joining the priesthood,
clamped down on efforts to open up to homosexuals and vigorously opposed
birth control. Before becoming pope, he announced that he would prefer a
smaller, purer church to a broader one if it meant easing doctrine.
“We
are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize
anything as for certain and which has as its highest goals one’s own
ego and one’s own desires,” he said a day before the conclave of
cardinals met to elect him pope.
After his election as pontiff,
he compared the job he was about to accept with a guillotine falling
toward his neck, and to capital punishment.
‘Death Sentence’
“He
is probably the first pope in history to compare his election with a
death sentence,” said John Allen Jr., author of “Cardinal Ratzinger: The
Vatican’s Enforcer of the Faith.” The pope’s real name is Joseph
Ratzinger and he chose the name of Benedict when he became pope.
Succeeding
a revered pope who was swiftly put on the path to sainthood, Benedict
discovered not only that he couldn’t match John Paul II’s charisma but
that some of the failings of his predecessor would come back to haunt
his own papacy.
The church came in for criticism at the start of
his tenure for doing too little to punish pedophile priests and even
covering up evidence of their abuse. Benedict did confront the issue,
apologizing for the church’s shortcomings in not better protecting
children from wayward priests and he met and prayed with victims of
abuse.
New Economic Order
As the global credit crisis
unfolded, Benedict found his voice as an advocate for a new financial
and social order in the aftermath of the market meltdown. As an
octogenarian, he published a 150-page encyclical calling for a new
economic order with “real teeth.”
Still, the recurring theme of
his papacy has been a personal battle against relativism, wherein
religious truth and practices are malleable to suit lifestyle demands of
changing cultures. He argued it would be a mistake to compromise on
ideology to make the faith more accessible to modern societies.
That
is not to say that Benedict, who preferred to write by hand, wasn’t
dragged into the 21st century by outside pressure to appear in touch
with the times. He even set up a Twitter account this year.
For
example, Benedict reviewed the church’s stance on contraception. He
commissioned a 200-page report to explore the effect that condoms could
have in stopping the spread of infectious diseases, including AIDS. The
effort eventually yielded to a slight shift, while at the same time
reaffirming the church’s approach. In 2010, Benedict said that condom
use can be justified in “single cases,” for example by sex workers, as a
necessary “humanization of sexuality,” while reiterating the church
still opposed contraceptive use.
German Pontiff
Benedict
was the first German pontiff since Victor II in the 11th century and
the oldest cardinal elected since Clement XII, who was also 78 when
chosen in 1730. His fellow cardinals needed only four ballots to select
him pope.
John Paul tapped then-cardinal Ratzinger in 1981 to
head a body that today is better known for putting the astronomer
Galileo Galilei on trial for heresy in the 17th century. In that role,
he quashed efforts by some priests to convince the Vatican to ease
doctrine on issues such as celibacy for priests and took on liberal
theologians such as Brazil’s Leonardo Boff.
“Ratzinger would
never be swayed from his beliefs,” said Allen. “At his age and with his
life experience, his core ideas were very well fixed.”
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