His mysterious resignation set this all in motion, and he has been silent as his successor wrecks the Church.
PopeWatch: Good
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Just guessing, but I think Jesus knows how he feels.
I do wish he was with his cousin in Australia, and not holed up in the Vatican. I’d like to think he’s composed a testament to be read at his death which will have the answers to some unanswered questions.
I don’t hold any ill will toward him. Offering up one’s suffering for the sake of the Holy Father and the Church is a time-proven method of attaining Heaven. I respect him for his silence. The Church is in a position where an offhand remark, a bad mood, or God forbid some mental deterioration on his part could lead to formal schism.
I think it was a bad idea for him to resign though. It puts us in a position like the British government is right now, where any perceived misstep could fuel pressure to step down. But yeah, when you’re twice as smart as the average cardinal, your successor is likely to be half your intellect, and Benedict could have foreseen that.
Francis and his cohorts control Benedict’s movements, communications and all access to the man. I certainly wouldn’t want to be at the mercy of people like that. He’s 95, and surrounded by corrupt, ruthless men who hate what he stood for.
Back in 2020, Benedict coauthored a defense of priestly celibacy with Robert Cardinal Sarah. The book was seen as a contradiction of Francis’ proposal that celibacy was up for negotiation, and the Vatican insisted Benedict be downgraded from ‘coauthor’ to ‘contributor’. And I’m guessing Benedict’s minders learned to keep tighter control over the correspondence of their ward. I very much doubt we’ll see Benedict write another word that could embarrass Francis’ agenda— not because he might not want to, but because he isn’t allowed to.
If Benedict does have a testament to be released after his death, I imagine Francis’ courtiers will do all they can to either suppress it or, if that fails, question its authenticity in order to undermine any impact it might have.
It would not appear proper to hold the actions of his successor against Pope Benedict. He had no way of knowing who would be the next Pope. As to the resignation on a stand alone basis. There have been several occasions in the past when the Church would have benefited from a papal resignation when it became apparent as the best course of action. Finally, if someone at the top decides he no longer wants or can perform the job, take him at his word because he is best to make that determination.
But yeah, when you’re twice as smart as the average cardinal, your successor is likely to be half your intellect, and Benedict could have foreseen that.
Francis has exceptional intellectual deficiencies, but that’s no more than a secondary or tertiary problem.
He’s 95, and surrounded by corrupt, ruthless men who hate what he stood for.
Unless he was being blackmailed, nothing prevented him from packing his bags and leaving the Vatican. He has family, though not many. There was a Domincan house willing to provide shelter for the disgraced Cdl. McCarrick. He had options.
If Benedict does have a testament to be released after his death, I imagine Francis’ courtiers will do all they can to either suppress it or, if that fails, question its authenticity in order to undermine any impact it might have.
If he can communicate with Cdl. Sarah, he has a pipeline to his cousin. Write it out in longhand. She can store it in a safety deposit box.
Why attribute anything to conspiracy, though? Benedict had written as a theologian about the possibility of papal resignation, so there’s no need to imagine him being blackmailed into it. He likely knows that any writings could undermine his successor, so there’s not need to formulate a theory about him being muzzled. Also – there’s no way that any theory could be proven or disproven.
“so there’s no need to imagine him being blackmailed into it.”
The decision was made abruptly. Allegedly it was done for his health and he is still alive nine years later. It was done with a report about homosexual activity in the Vatican pending. If this wasn’t done under the threat of blackmail I would be very surprised.
During those years, there was always another scandalous report about to be issued. As for it being abrupt, how would you set it up more slowly? I guess you could call a conclave, or announce that you were retiring in a year, so it’s possible. It just doesn’t seem persuasive to me.
Art, in the early years of Francis’ pontificate Benedict certainly could have packed his bags and gone anywhere to live. But he’d have to have been psychic to have foreseen how bad this pontificate would be. I’m no fan of Francis, but it took me years to accept that he is as truly awful as he is. If Benedict ever concluded he might be better off outside of Francis’ control, the trap was already sprung. What could he do— order a car and driver? I doubt he still has anyone around him who gives a damn about his wishes, or who’d lift a finger to help him relocate. I doubt there’s a very long list of things Benedict is free to do these days, and leaving the control of Francis & Co. is definitely not on that list now, if it ever was.
The days of Benedict collaborating with scholars are also likely long past— not because he’s not interested nor able, but because it embarrassed Francis once and a repeat won’t happen again. I doubt he has free access to a phone, and it would be the simplest thing in the world to restrict both his correspondence and his visitors.
Maybe Benedict is still perfectly free to leave and speak and correspond— maybe. But it would be the easiest thing in the world to make him a prisoner, and the crowd running things in the Vatican these days certainly aren’t above doing just that if it suited them.
As for it being abrupt, how would you set it up more slowly?
Maybe discuss it with laity and clergy of the Church he was leading, instead of presenting them with a fait accompli, unprecedented in over five hundred years? There was no inkling he was going to do this until he did it. Sudden and unexplained changes in behavior like this are ever a sign of blackmail.
I doubt he still has anyone around him who gives a damn about his wishes, or who’d lift a finger to help him relocate.
Gimme a break. Again, a house of Dominicans took in Cdl. McCarrick after he’d been dismissed from the clerical state and Benedict is still able to communicate with the outside world. Random strangers in Rome would take him in.
“…when you’re twice as smart as the average cardinal, your successor is likely to be half your intellect…”
Gee, I’d more concern myself with a pope’s piety than with his intellect.
“During those years, there was always another scandalous report about to be issued.”
.
My thought is that there is some incident involving John Paul II.
(Although possibly Crdl. Ratzinger, or maybe both) Probably very long ago. May even have been an innocent misunderstanding, but by modern standards, and with a Media that runs wild telling exagerations and even outright lies without a thought, something that could really, really damage the legacy of Saint JPII the Great.
Art, it’s adorable that you think Francis and his collaborators would permit Benedict to pick up and leave. And I’d bet it’s harder to contact Benedict without minders present to monitor things than it is to get face time with Francis himself.
When Celestine V resigned the papacy, he ended his days in a monastery— but historians agree that he was imprisoned there by his successor Boniface VIII. It was a simpler time then, and unscrupulous Popes could be less concerned with appearances than Popes today.
I’d like to think that Benedict is free to go where he wants, contact whomever he wants, and live wherever he wants; but I doubt that’s the case at all.
As we don’t have the privileged reasons and the absolute circumstances available to us regarding the departure of Pope Benedict XVI, let us take JOY in the fact that this vessel will not sink, burn or end up beached on a foreign shore. The Lavender Mafia, Freemasons or Pacamamaorites..they will never destroy the Holy Catholic Church.
I wonder about St. Pope JPII.
How his battle within the walls of the Vatican was managed and what if any compromises were made.
My guess. He had allies. Pope Benedict? Maybe his allies were traitors or manipulators?
Agian.
We might never know while here in the valley.
We do know who owns this vessel.
Art, it’s adorable that you think Francis and his collaborators would permit Benedict to pick up and leave.
Whether they would or would not, nothing compelled him to remain in 2013. The man’s been a study in learned helplessness.
I recall when he retired, he voiced his desire to spend his retirement in Castel Gandolfo … I wonder why that never happened?