pope benedict XVI

news of pope benedict XVI’s resignation broke out yesterday. late night news covered this, with cnn squeezing featurettes in between business news. while not unprecedented (there were four previous pontiffs who abdicated the papal throne), benedict’s decision to step down is quite a shock, since the last pope to resign, gregory XII, did so in 1415. that was nearly 600 years ago! the last pope to voluntarily resign was celestine V in 1294. so for nearly 1.2 billion catholics in the world today, a pope abdicating is virtually unheard of.

but of course, the current pontiff has his reasons. a man of brilliant mind, who turns 86 this april, said that he is leaving the papacy on february 28 because of “lack of mental and physical strength”. according to reports, he is not suffering from any major illness but is now “using a cane and a wheeled platform to take him up the long aisle in st. peter's square”. after his papacy, he will be known as cardinal joseph ratzinger and will retire in a monastery within the vatican walls.

when he was elected to the papacy after the death of john paul II in 2005, i thought that he lacked john paul II’s warmth, innate charisma and overall “saintly” aura. i guess it was because of ratzinger’s big piercing eyes and his “professorial” bearing. but as his papacy went on, his gaze somewhat softened and from the clips that i’ve seen in his many pilgrimages, especially the world youth day, he seemed to become that grandpa many people might never have.

  

more for history, as i myself isn’t the religious type, i believe that the 2000-year old church deserves continuity and benedict, being his old sternly conservative self, will ensure that this would happen. in fact, reports said that the cardinals are expected to be in rome in early march and a new pope will be installed before the holy week. questions are raised on why the catholicdom has yet to see a non-european pope, as the church’s huge battleground have already shifted from europe to south america and asia, specifically the philippines. last night, the philippines was even singled out by cnn’s john defterios with the country’s still strong 80% (at least) catholic majority. for me, it doesn’t really matter if the new pope comes from europe or not (although it would really be nice to have a new pope who is a filipino!), the more important question is whether the church will finally be led by a more liberal one, as many factions of this great religion are pushing for, or will still follow the conservative rule that has been laid down by previous pontificates.