Pope Benedict XVI shocked the Catholic world on February 11 when he announced that he would be ‘resigning’ from his post on February 28. For observers of the Vatican this was no surprise. In 2009, while visiting earthquake-stricken L’Aquila, the pope prayed at the tomb of Celestine V, a pope who resigned five months after being elected in 1294. In the recent issue of Focus, German journalist Peter Seewald recalled Benedict telling him last August, “…I am an old man and my strength is running out. And I think what I have done is enough.”
There were reports that St Peter’s Basilica was struck by lightning shortly after the pope announced his decision. The Economist succinctly called the resignation an ‘ecclesiastical earthquake’. Lightning or earthquake, Benedict leaves Vatican at a time when the Catholic Church is facing challenges from inside and out. One of these is the dwindling number of believers in the See in the Western world. The Pandora’s Box of sexual abuse by clergymen and the ‘Vatileaks’ showed the Church in bad light.
The demographic change among believers, with a considerable rise in the percentage of believers in Latin America and Africa, as compared to Europe, has given hope that the next pope, who will be elected sometime in mid-March by 117 cardinals, may be non-European or the Catholic Church might even get its first ‘black’ pope. Contenders for the post are, among others, Cardinal Marc Ouellet from Canada, Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri from Argentina. Bookmakers favour Ouellet, who is the head of the Congregation of Bishops. The argument that these are, at best, just speculations gains ground given that the College of Cardinals is predominantly European. This is an opportunity for the Church to address many pressing issues. Whether it will or not, one has to wait and watch.
(This appeared in The New Indian Express on February 18, 2012)
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