Month: April 2013

“Knowing when to walk away, is Wisdom.  Being able to, is Courage.  Walking away with Grace, and your head held high, is Dignity.  (Ritu Ghatourey)

Although I’m not a Roman Catholic, seeing Pope Benedict in Rome, hearing him speak, and being at St. Peter’s in Vatican City, was like being with a celebrity.  For Catholics and non-Catholics alike, the Pope is somewhat a celebrity figure.  I had originally thought an audience with the Pope was confined to a few people but to my shock and amazement, there were thousands of people there. We were all excited and caught up in the moment.

Had Pope Benedict not resigned, that historical moment for me, had gladly come and, as far as I was concerned, gone – except for the lovely photos I have of my time in Rome.  However, this act of leaving the Papacy, brought me to thinking of this man and his life.  It also brought me to thinking of my own ideas of martyrdom as it relates to what my understanding of a good Christian has always been.  When I saw Pope Benedict that day in Rome, I just assumed that he would see this job out until death. He was elected Pope in 2005 at the age of seventy-eight.

A Pope has not resigned for 598 years.  In 1415, Pope Gregory XII resigned.  He resigned because there was a lot of division in the Catholic church.  Not only was he the Pope in Rome but there was a Pope in France. The duration of this peculiar situation was about forty years.  From 1409, there was also a third Pope in Pisa.  This is what precipitated Pope Gregory’s resignation.

Pope Benedict, on the other hand, has stepped down because of his health.  This is the first for a Pope.  While it is sad, it is also a breakthrough and a breaking away from the old way of “martyring” oneself.  This is a sensible choice for him personally and it sends a powerful lesson to the whole world that a job or vocation or calling may have to be let go of.  Here is a man who is giving up celebrity status as a world-renowned figure to live out his calling in a different way.  It is a very impressive and mindful decision in the light of the fact that there isn’t a precedent that was set for him to follow.

This is what makes this so historical for me.  I see a person here who’s listening to his own feelings and his own heart.  Despite what his physicians have told him, he himself had to come to this moment of giving in his resignation and giving up the power.  He said:  “I am simply a pilgrim beginning the last leg of his pilgrimage on this Earth.”  In spite of myself, I find myself a Pope admirer – especially of Pope Benedict XVI.  I see a very “human” being.  I am proud to see the part of history he is making.

For those of you who haven’t seen or heard his words of resignation or farewell, they are below for your perusal.  I was also fortunate enough to visit the town of Castel Gandolfo, and to see the Pope’s summer home and to take many pictures of the lovely, hilly area.  The words immediately below were given there on February 28th. He was spending some time there before returning to take up residence at a convent in the Vatican.  These are English translations.

“Dear friends, I’m happy to be with you, surrounded by the beauty of creation and your well-wishes which do me such good. Thank you for your friendship, and your affection. You know this day is different for me than the preceding ones: I am no longer the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, or I will be until 8 o’clock this evening and then no more.

Pope’s last day: Benedict XVI leaves the Vatican for the final time

“I am simply a pilgrim beginning the last leg of his pilgrimage on this Earth. But I would still … thank you … I would still with my heart, with my love, with my prayers, with my reflection, and with all my inner strength, like to work for the common good and the good of the church and of humanity. I feel very supported by your sympathy.

“Let us go forward with the Lord for the good of the church and the world. Thank you, I now wholeheartedly impart my blessing. Blessed be God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Good night! Thank you all!”

 This is Pope Benedict’s resignation address.

“Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. 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. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.”

Hope you like the collages!