Last week I wrote about
how Lent begins a new year. Well, on
Monday our Holy Father began a new era. In
announcing his resignation from the See of Peter, he changed the church in ways
we will not understand for decades.
What he did will change
the expectations everyone has of every future Pope, including the expectations
of the Pope himself. He is introducing a
new possibility, or at least invigorating one long thought impracticable, to
the governance of the Church at its summit.
The effect of that possibility will only be known over succeeding
generations.
That being acknowledged,
what is happening in the Church now is not so dramatic as some commentators
would have you think.
Choosing to end his reign
as Pontiff because his own weakness makes him believe it is impossible for him to
fulfill the obligations of the office has the same end result as would his
death: the Chair of Peter will be vacant.
There is sadness at losing someone we love in a relationship on which we
depend, but it is less intense than would be the grief at his death.
Though the cause –
resignation – is different, the result is much the same. Once the Chair is vacated on 28 February, the
responsible members of the Church’s leadership will swing into action with their
carefully assigned roles. The
Camerlengo, or Chamberlain, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, will seal the papal
chambers and convene the General Assemblies.
These daily congresses of all the Cardinals will serve two important functions. First, they govern the daily functioning of
the Church in the absence of a Pope, though they are not able to take actions
that are reserved to the Pontiff; and they provide a forum wherein the
Cardinals will give their observations of what needs to be considered in this
time of transition, in short speeches called interventions. Each Cardinal who participates may give one.
Then the Dean of College
of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, will announce the date when the Conclave
will convene to select a successor. Only
Cardinals under the age of 80 at the time the Chair is vacated will be eligible;
there will be 117. They will be
sequestered in complete secrecy to discern who is the next Pontiff, almost
certainly someone in their midst.
This is an ingenious
process wherein all the voters, all the group leaders and opinion makers, any
also-rans, and all the indispensible future coworkers, are all doing their discussing,
discerning, and voting in the presence of one another -- and the next Pope. It is a delicate, deliberate process, marked
by much prayer, but one that bears marvelous fruit. It leads to the “supermajority” of two-thirds
of the body, plus one, that identifies the new Pope.
Whenever we need someone
new to be Peter, this is just what we do.
Of course, the media natterers are competing to generate the most
over-the-top explanations that sensationalize it, in hope of...well, whatever
they hope for: audience share, shots at the Church and her credibility,
advantages for their particular agenda. The usual. They can't be
bothered to admit that in the main, the whole thing is actually, well, pretty
normal – for the Church.
The real story holds no
appeal for them: that we go through this every so often, we have a process to
respond to and resolve the challenge, and all
things work for the good of those who love God (Rom 8:28). That is precisely why it is
fascinating and instructive! The day-to-day life of the Body of Christ is
shockingly mundane, until you get to the part about rising from the dead.
That’s the part for which you and I are in it, and that’s what we can
count on, from our Lord, and His Church, and His Vicar on earth, now, and in
the new era to come.
Monsignor Smith
