On the Resignation of a Pope

Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana. PHOTO/Getty Images

On April 19, 2005, following the death of his predecessor, Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, 264th heir to St. Peter’s throne and head of God’s own Petrine Ministry. By March 1, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI will be no more; and God’s former Rottweiler will retire to live out the rest of his days in an exclusive Vatican residence – in prayer, in dedication, in celibacy, and also, with the arthritis that plagued him at 86 years of age, preventing him from completing his divine duties.

The entire globe is in an immediate quandary: Not only was this February 11, 2013 decision much too sudden and unexpected – the Pope assured the world just last year that he’d serve out his term – it also means that the religious community has to grapple with two very dicey aspects: This is one of the only times that a sitting pope will have the specter of a predecessor that is alive.

Of course, while the Holy Father may retire if he chooses as predicated by the Code of Canon Law, when a pope is elected as the Successor of St. Peter, the Church expects that he will remain in office until his death. In fact, the last time a pope resigned and led to the election of another, was in 1294. Pope Celestine V, a Benedictine monk who was 84, resigned on December 13, 1294, and his successor, Pope Boniface VIII imprisoned him so that no one could try to reinstall him if he was more popular. “Fortunately”, the imprisonment and Boniface’s fears did not last that long as St. Celestine died less than 6 months later.

This leaves us with the bigger issue: Benedict XVI’s successor.

Someone has to provide leadership to the world’s 1.13 billion catholics [Est. 2008 . The Vatican], and according to various media sources, not one but two Africans are among the early contenders to become Pope. This may reflect the reality that Catholics from the developing world are increasingly neither Caucasian nor European: Africa’s Catholics are over 12 percent of the overall total, and Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana could join past African popes and become the first ever black pope of the modern era.

If and when this happens, the world may rejoice as much as it did when Nelson Mandela was released from prison 1994, when Ghana’s Kofi A. Annan became Secretary General of the UN in 1997, and when Barack Obama was elected US president first in 2008 and also in 2012.

However, unlike these aforementioned momentous aspects, the election of the Pope is a much different thing. Unlike regular politics where the front runner will, most likely, be the eventual winner, secret committees – especially the Vatican’s conclave – have been notorious for actually not going for the front runner, but for one the cardinals themselves consider God’s chosen servant. In fact, in a post-Benedict-resignation response to queries on a potential black pope, Cardinal Turkson suggested that things were not even about representation, and that such considerations tended to muddy the water.

Religious sensitivity aside, Dan Brown’s recent book Angels and Demons plus David Yallop’s scandalous In God’s Name from the 1980’s may have done much to create cynics and conspiracy theorists out of many if and when popular candidates did not necessarily accede to what is considered right and fitting by them. Secondly, in a parallel incident, John Sentamu, the popular and charismatic Ugandan-born Archbishop of York – widely seen as successor to the Most Rev. Rowan Williams – was ‘snubbed’ from occupying the Lambeth Palace, head of the Anglican Church, and the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. The secretive 16-strong Crown Nominations Commission was not convinced the high-profile Dr Sentamu was the best candidate – and that he was probably not as skilled a diplomat as they required.

To this, The Habari Network will actually demur; attesting to the wondrous ways of the Lord and his Church and also say we see great value in the candidature of someone as distinguished as Cardinal Turkson is. Elevated to the position of spokesman for the Second Synod for Africa in 2009, he has been called ‘the lone Scripture scholar’ in the Pope’s Senate.

The Editorial Board,
The Habari Network

For comments, feedback and contributions, please write to editor@thehabarinetwork.com

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