Monday, February 11, 2013

The Pope Resigns



I'm very surprised.  I'm not sorry.  I don't expect his successor to be any improvement.  He could even be worse.

Pope Pius XIII anyone?


  Ciao Bebe!





I'm not expecting much, if anything, to change.  If there is dramatic change, then I expect it to be in an even more sharply rightward direction.  We could get a later-day Caraffa, a fanatic who excommunicates everyone and puts up barbed wire around the Vatican.  Not likely, but it is possible.  I think that alternative is much more possible than even the most tentative gesture to soften church pronouncements on women, gays, or sexuality.  I expect those very hard and unyielding views to continue to undercut the moral credibility of the church's otherwise commendable views on global capitalism, the impending environmental crisis, and especially on human rights.

I don't think JP II's or Benedict's policies concerning all the scandal and criminality in the church will change either.  I expect to see a continuation of policies that are more about institutional preservation and face-saving than about any kind of real reckoning with the harm done, and any real reform in the direction of openess and making shepherds more accountable to their flocks and to civil and criminal law.

I hear that Benedict plans to retire to an unnamed cloister immediately after his resignation takes effect on February 28th.  Dramatic certainly, though maybe not quite as dramatic as Emperor Chandragupta giving up his throne for the life of a wandering ascetic and then dying of starvation in a cave.  I've heard a few whispers that the pope's decision may be motivated by medical diagnoses indicating impending dementia.  Perhaps his decision was inspired by his very close experience of the seriously declining health of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II in his last years.

EXTRA:

Hans Kung on the outgoing pope:
"During his time in office he has ordained so many conservative cardinals, that amongst them is hardly a single person to be found who could lead the church out of its multifaceted crisis."

Tip of the Papal tiara to Erika Baker.

I'm glad the old duffer is going, but I don't expect much to change; and if anything does change, then duck and cover. 

EXTRA:

Excellent summation of Pope Benedict's reign and the current state of the Catholic Church by Stephen Bates of The Guardian:
Catherine Pepinster, editor of the Catholic weekly the Tablet, said: "It has been a very troubled time. We have not got a Catholic church at ease with itself."
Indeed, the Vatican has seemed to be pressing hard in the opposite direction: into a cul-de-sac of conservative authoritarianism which neither inspires nor revives the mass of cradle Catholics, who are still deserting the church even in heartlands such as Spain and Ireland. Fifty years ago, governments in Catholic countries would tremble at the Vatican's displeasure; now they just wag their fingers back and press on with their plans for gay marriages or easier abortion. There is no comeback when the church has squandered its moral authority across the world over child abuse.
Tip of the Papal tiara to Lapinbizarre.

EXTRA:

Garry Wills is deeply pessimistic that anything will change for the better in Rome.
Wistful Catholics hope that on this and other matters of disagreement between the church as People of God and the ruling powers in the church, a new pope can remedy that discord. But a new pope will be elected by cardinals who were elevated to office by the very popes who reaffirmed “eternal truths” like the teaching on contraception. They were appointed for their loyalty, as were the American bishops who stubbornly upheld the contraception nonsense in our elections.
Will the new conclave vote for a man who goes against the teachings of his predecessors? Even if they do, can the man chosen buck the structure through which he rose without kicking the structure down? These considerations have given the election of new popes the air of watching Charlie Brown keep trying to kick the football, hoping that Lucy will cooperate.
 

8 comments:

JCF said...

[Oh lookee, Sad Brad is back. A man distinguished by NEVER being missed when he's gone.]

Well, Doug, I refuse to give up hope for a miracle.

I don't think there's any such think as Homo homophobus or Homo wingnuttius. There are only Homo sapiens, w/ varying belief-systems (some of them disastrously PATHOLOGICAL).

A member of this group, Homo sapiens, will be elected Bishop of Rome (though sadly, Yet Another of the XY subset >:-/).

Homo sapiens are capable of radical change---Yes, even change for-the-BETTER.

And I pray that's what happens in Rome. No matter how homophobic, how wingnutty the "winner" appears, I pray he will be/come different. Actually carry out the will of Christ, not the will of the Father-of-Lies, for a refreshing CHANGE!!!!

JCF said...

Ironically, however, the ONLY thing Benedict XVI will have done worthwhile, is his abdication: a welcome (modern) precedent. God bless him in his retirement . . . and keep his theological/ecclesiological/political influence FAR away from the RCC! (Or anywhere else)

Counterlight said...

I hope you are right JCF, but I wouldn't bet the ranch on it.

Pr. James Harbaugh STS said...

Hello Doug,
Ashen greetings for Lent. Your comments are spot on. I suppose giving up the chair of Peter for Lent must be one helluva discipline, maybe he'll be back for the Great Vigil?!?

Seriously, I concur they're are no liberals; the V-II spirit is about to die out it seems. Here in Iowa I have trouble getting "the Roman" priests to believe we're the same religion.

The only hope for RCism might be an A. Romero sort of figure who will turn over the defence of the church to Peter's Boss, whose compassion reached to so-called outsiders forgotten by the powerful.

I've enjoyed Will's writings in theology, but I think he's wrong on this issue. The antidote to poor priesting is priests accountable to the people they serve. The "my sacrifice and yours" at the offertory of the Mass enshrines an inadequate and incomplete theology of priesthood and church in its holiest rite. Wills walks the priests off a narrow plank if all they are are Jesus-dispensers. The Eucharist, while the chief place, is not the only place where priests intercede to God on behalf of church and world.
I'll leave it at that. Who'da thought back in the 80's and 90's that something called a "blog" would be a way for us to communicate!

Blessings,



Counterlight said...

Great to hear from you again Pastor Harbaugh. I'm delighted that you found my blog!

plinthos said...

Your Pope bashing is unjust and out of date and quite worldly: a cheap reflection of the in vogue political correctness (with it's historical origins in the worst elements of the Enlightenment) with very little to do with the Judeo-Christian tradition, despite the veneer of "honesty" and being "true christians."

Have you and your readers not noticed that for more than a century and a half the Popes have been consistently of irreproachable character and quite heroic virtue: veritable saints on all accounts! Eight of the eleven past Popes have some title to that effect: e.g. Servant of God Pope John Paul I! This is a trend which the world has not seen since the first centuries of Christianity (and the early middle ages).

Take note and change your tune! Get with the times! The French Revolution is over! It is time to criticize the governments that have been trashing and killing priests for two centuries rather than promoting their anti-Papal/anti-God biases.

Counterlight said...

"Take note and change your tune! Get with the times! The French Revolution is over! It is time to criticize the governments that have been trashing and killing priests for two centuries rather than promoting their anti-Papal/anti-God biases."

The French Revolution is indeed over... and so are the Middle Ages.

Counterlight said...

"Have you and your readers not noticed that for more than a century and a half the Popes have been consistently of irreproachable character and quite heroic virtue: veritable saints on all accounts!"

The Jews of Rome might have a thing or two to say about Pius IX.

Adolph Mengele was very grateful to Pius XII for a place to lay low, and for those tickets to Argentina.