Today is Pope Benedict XVI’s last day as the Vicar of Christ. In a surprise move, he became the first pope in 600 years to resign from his holy post. Many are hailing his departure as a positive step forward for the Roman Catholic Church, having vehemently disagreed with his more conservative and traditional perspectives. In a scathing article, theologian Matthew Fox attacks Benedict XVI, painting a picture of him as a backward, insensitive brute that history will quickly forget.
I believe that such vicious attacks against the outgoing pontiff reveal an ignorance of the Catholic Church’s role as interpreter of Jesus Christ’s teachings and commands.
Recently, I spoke with Graziano Marcheschi, Executive Director of University Ministry at Saint Xavier University, about this topic. One of Marcheschi’s most positive remarks about the pope’s legacy actually revolved around Benedict’s “heroic” resignation. According to Marcheschi, it was heroic because Benedict freely and responsibly surrendered his post believing he was no longer fit to carry out his required duties. Even more important, though, was Benedict’s faith that the Holy Spirit will help find the right successor for the holy office. In short, for Benedict, the papacy was about the office and not about the man.
I fully agree with Marcheschi’s appraisal. Pope Benedict filled the role that the Church expected him to fill, mainly; to discern the mind of Christ and enact the Church’s understanding of it. Thus, the pope cannot be evaluated as one would evaluate a U.S. president. To be sure, a president has a duty to fill his role as prescribed by the Constitution, but, being a democratically elected official and public servant, he is supposed to enact the peoples’ will. The pope’s role, on the other hand, is to enact God’s will as the Catholic Church interprets it. Herein lies the source of misunderstanding for many of Benedict’s critics.
Benedict is often criticized by progressive thinkers for failing to alter the Church’s positions opposing fornication, birth control, female priests, abortions and other social issues. They argue that modern society is changing, and that the Church needs to “get with the times” in order to stay relevant.
Again, this analysis assumes that the Church operates like a political party, with a platform that changes every now and again to reflect popular opinion. Yet this is not the case. The Church has no obligation to stay “trendy;” rather, it needs to uphold what it has interpreted as Jesus Christ’s commands. In fact, if the Church did shift with public opinion, then I believe it would have gone extinct long ago, as it would have lacked a backbone. After all, if God’s law is supposed to be perfect and eternal, then how could the Church justify being so malleable?
One might argue that the Church’s need to “interpret” Christ’s commands makes those commands debatable and uncertain. The Catholic faith, however, is structured around a hierarchy of trained clergy, with the Pope at the top, whom the faithful entrust precisely with arriving at a deeper understanding of how to live a righteous life.
Thus, Pope Benedict’s traditional approach toward many issues simply meant that he was doing his job of upholding Christ’s will in the universal church, a will which the church views as neither liberal nor conservative, but rather as simply the truth. As for those who claim that if the Church refuses to change according to popular opinion it will collapse; the Roman Catholic Church has survived 2,000 years of persecutions, Germanic invasions, plagues, schisms, wars and challenges from the scientific community. It is naïve and pompous to believe that our period in history is somehow special and that the Church must cater to current popular demands or face extinction.
So, ultimately, I praise Benedict XVI for maintaining the Church’s backbone in spite of the challenges. Naturally, he had his faults. His failure to hold many child sex abusers accountable is inexcusable, and in that regard, the Church better change, and fast. But in terms of upholding Catholic morality, he was a good pope.
Tony Bara
Editor in Chief