Habemus Problem

It was five years ago today that Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez of Chile announced to the world that Catholics had a new pope, Benedict XVI. While I'm sure the Pope is marking the fifth anniversary of his reign, I'm also certain that he's not celebrating it.

Pope Benedict, who turned 83 on Friday, was chosen in part for his advanced age - after a quarter century and change with John Paul II on the throne of Peter, the College Of Cardinals wanted a caretaker pontiff who wouldn't last too long. Maybe he already has. Benedict has in fact reigned longer than John XXIII by five months, and he does not see himself as a caretaker of the Church, but he has hardly left an enduring mark on the papacy like John, who called the Second Vatican Council to recommit the Church to the times, did. As noted earlier, Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate is devoted to a continuity of the Johannpauline period, and as a member of the Catholic laity (and a lapsed member at that), I have yet to see this Pope taking the Church in any particular or distinctive direction. He keeps insisting that he does not intend to be a caretaker, and with the ongoing sex abuse scandals, it's obvious that he can't merely be a caretaker.

Alas, the Holy Father's handling of the situation is lamentable at best. It's easy to see why, during the conclave that elected him, the former Joseph Ratzinger prayed to God that he wouldn't be chosen and hoped to retire from his role as prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and return to Germany. Benedict has expressed regret and attempted to apologize on behalf of the Church regarding this scandal without admitting any negligence or error on his part. He parses his words similar to how noted heretic John Lennon did when he explained his remark that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ, except that Lennon had good reason to do so (and the Vatican accepted his apology).

To be fair, Benedict had a tough act to follow, succeeding a larger-than-life pontiff who just about singlehandedly liberated eastern Europe from Communism - he is like Andrew Johnson to John Paul II's Abraham Lincoln. But his inability to get a grasp on the sex abuse scandal shows how is own personality has conspired against him. Benedict is a rather stubborn fellow, usually relying on his own instincts and conclusions - which is to be expected, given his introverted character - and he still comes across as the taciturn professor from the University of Regensburg that he used to be (and, officially at least, still is). He's lecturing his audience and only occasionally accepting contrary input in return.

Although there's a precedent for popes not serving out their lifetime reigns - Martin I was dethroned and kidnapped in 653 by an Eastern patriarch for refusing to legitimize Monothelitism, a belief that Jesus had two natures but only one will - Benedict is unlikely to abdicate or be dethroned, and the best we can hope for is that the Holy Father will handle the Church crisis better going forward. More likely, he will continue to bear the papacy like a cross while the Vatican continues to protect him.