Anyone who understands the magnitude of the decision of Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) to resign the papacy is shocked at the news. The last time this happened was over 600 years ago, and was done during a time when a split in the papacy created more than one pope and threatened the very fabric of the Church. Every pope has faced difficult times because all times are difficult. All of them have faced the struggles of declining health because they have all remained pope until they died. No one knows why Benedict has chosen to step down beyond his statement that the challenges the Church faces right now requires a pope to be mentally and physically strong enough to lead and he is fast declining.
We might speculate that Benedict XVI recognized that his role as the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith before the papacy has made it difficult to deal with the worldwide pedophile priest scandal. We might also speculate that recent struggles in the Vatican have been administrative and financial, and truly require a pope to be more than simply a spiritual leader. We might speculate that the pope has a serious health concern that he knows will debilitate him soon and is wise enough to step aside and help the transition before he becomes completely unable to offer quality leadership. All of these are speculations, and should probably be set aside. I'm praying for him today.
The end of Benedict XVI's papacy is a stark contrast to his more beloved and more influential predecessor, John Paul II, who was celebrated for his bravery in leading the Church despite terrible Parkinson's Disease right up until his death. His suffering was seen as an expression of spiritual leadership derived from the example of Christ, who served all of us in the way he suffered and the way he died.
At the same time, I would like to think that the resignation of Benedict XVI may also serve as an example of Christlike spiritual leadership. It's extraordinarily rare for anyone to voluntarily give up leadership. Anyone who attains worldly power is likely to find his or her identity connected to their position of power and prestige. We do this in the smallest and most absurd ways. Few of us get a job where we are told we are the "vicar of Christ" and successor to Peter, that everything we say from the holy chair must be true, that we have been blessed with an ontological transformation, that a billion people adore and trust us, that the whole world knows our name and is influenced in one way or another by our leadership. It's hard for a guy who opens a grocery store to hang it up when the time comes. It's hard for local politicians, small church pastors, middle managers, soldiers, just about everybody, to imagine no longer being what they've been and trying to figure out who they are without the job that defined them for so long. And none of the rest of us had our name changed and put in a history book forever.
Leadership in the Kingdom is about the people. Power is the power to serve. We are entrusted with power for a purpose that has nothing to do with us. When we think that the office that gives us that power is who we are, we are deluded. We're dangerous. For whatever reason Benedict XVI chose to step down, I hope we will learn from him. I hope we will understand that when we are given power, it is not for ourselves or about ourselves. It is the capacity to do good and to serve. When our capacity to exercise power can no longer be effective for the sake of others, we should give it up quickly and easily. If we never forget this, than we will never find our identity through a position or power and we will find it easy to give it up when it's time--the same motivation to accept power and position for the purpose of self-sacrificial service leads one to give it up out of self-sacrificial service.
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