I expressed my concern recently that “Pope Benedict’s announcement [to abdicate] will be twisted by enemies of the Church to downplay the dignity of the elderly or sick. ‘See, even the Pope realizes that there comes a point where you can’t do anything good for society anymore.’” I still see that as a possibility, given that people will use any excuse to pound the Church and Her teachings. But with Benedict characteristically out of the spotlight, attention will fall to Pope Francis who presumably has the “strength of mind and body” that Benedict admitted he lacked.
Pic by Catholic Church (England and Wales)
But wait; Pope Francis ain’t a spring chicken either! At 76 he is only two years younger than Ratzinger was at his election.
I recall commentary at the time of Pope Benedict’s election that, given his age and expected short reign, the Church was going to let the “orthodoxy train” run its course that reached a zenith with PJPII and would continue under BXVI. Once Benedict was gone, the Church could finally get to all that necessary modernizing it needs to do, and that a hip, new, young Pope would surely usher in.
The Holy Spirit must have fun working His magic among the cardinals so that unexpected choices are made, and later that the man who is Pope often shows us a different side of himself than his pre-Pope days. The hard life of the almost-orphaned actor who worked in a quarry and stood toe-to-pacifist-toe with both the Nazis and the Soviets could become a Pope of incredible depth of prayer who uphold the dignity of women, loved our Lady, and gave us new insights on masculinity and femininity. “God’s Rottweiler” who supposedly held a hard line as prefect of the CDF and whose Introduction to Christianity was so theologically and academically dense that I needed an introduction to it, would write his first encyclical on caritas and show incredibly pastoral sensitivity and compassion to victims of the clergy abuse crisis.
So, consider the eyebrow-raising attributes of Pope Francis: the first non-European Pope in a long time; the first Latin American Pope ever; I don’t know if records this detailed are kept, but perhaps the first Pope with only one lung; an orthodox Jesuit (as unexpected as a Good Samaritan); a combination of orthodoxy with pastoral compassion and humility. He does, though, continue the tradition (which Cardinal O’Malley would have broken) of having no beard.
And, of course, he is relatively old (relative to the fact that everyone expected a cardinal in their 60s to be chosen). To the culture that only prizes washboard abs and spray tans and that expectedly guffawed when the aging Benedict stepped down since he was too old to be any good, the Church raises up a 76-year old South American servant-scholar who takes the bus and does his own cooking. To say this is the Pope the world never expected, and that the Church needs now, is an understatement.
If Pope Benedict, elected at 78, could be as prodigious as he was and transform the world with his Pontificate, imagine what Pope Francis could do having a two-year advantage!