By Jude Eze
As the window of his earthly life closed on 31st December 2022, marking the end of a 95-year sojourn, and the door of eternity opens to him, let’s take a peep through the pigeonhole of afterlife of Pope Benedict XVI.
A lot of interesting happenstances have occurred in our time for people of my generation to be appreciative of. Anyone born between 1960 and 2012 have seen civil war, witnessed global economic meltdown, experienced episodes of pandemic, incurable infections, exceptional global leadership seen in the men like Lee Kuan Yew and Pope John Paul II, seen a black man (Barack Obama) ascend to the highest political office in the world, witnessed the death and election of Popes etc.
But there is one spectacular occurrence that happens once in a lifetime. And it pleased providence to spare us the grace of witnessing it in our time. This extraordinary event started in the evening of February 11, 2013 in a Consistory (which is solemn meeting — a governing council of Roman Catholic cardinals convoked and presided over by the pope, usually to ratify the list of names for canonization etc). According to Francis Cardinal Arinze: “At the end of that particular Consistory, the Cardinals were about to disperse when His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI said, I have an important announcement to make. That on the last day of February 2013 (28th February 2013) I will be resigning my position as the Pope.”
It was a bomb! A historical record-breaking speech. No one contemplated it.
The resignation took effect on 28 February 2013 at 20:00 CET. It made him the first pope to relinquish the office since Gregory XII was forced to resign in 1415 to end the Western Schism, and the first pope to voluntarily resign since Celestine V in 1294. In our very eyes, an over six hundred years event reoccurred.
And that was how the experience of having two popes alive began in our own time. One active, the other passive. But we have a lot of lessons to draw from it.
First is that he acted within the ambit of wise counsels from men like Socrates — unexamined life is not worth living. He showed that he frequently examined his life before his Maker and knows his weakness, his limit and his strength.
On a lighter mood, the Pope did what Nigeria’s young Hip Hop artist – Kiss Daniels advised that no man should overstretch his limit. “No go dey do pass yourself.”
To the chronic sit-tightism syndromes bedeviling African leaders, the late Pope Emeritus posed a good model. If someone who was elected to subsist on the petrine seat till death, could accept in humility that he is finding it difficult to administer the office due to failing health, why will someone who occupy a tenured presidency hold fast like tridax?
The likes of President Muhammadu Buhari would rather administer his own country from London hospital for months unending, than take an honourable bow. But here we are, in the recess of the apostolic palace in Vatican, Benedict XVI amidst all reasons to hold on to, knew he could no longer carry on, and threw in the towel.
A lot of conspiracy theories were alluded to it by critics, because Benedict’s papacy was facing multiple significant crises at the time, and the Vatileaks scandal opened the Pandora’s box.
Vatileaks is the press technical term used to describe documents leaked by his former butler to the Italian media which exposed internal chaos, allegations of corruption and wrongdoing at the highest levels of the Catholic Church. The Vatican bank faced mounting criticism over its opaque operations, leading foreign financial institutions to temporarily suspend credit transactions in the world’s smallest state.
And above everything else: the unsettling revelations of rampant sexual abuse by Catholic priests and decades-long efforts by the church hierarchy to cover it up. All these were speculations by the press.
But the then Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi cleared the air in 2013, when he said that the pope made his decision to resign “aware of the great problems the church faces today,” adding that the decision showed “great courage and determination.” He insisted, however, that the pope’s decision was personal and that he had not resigned because of “difficulties in the papacy.”
At his final Mass and homily as pope, on Feb. 13, 2013, Benedict in all honesty, assessed the church as being currently in a distorted place because of internal divisions.
“We can reveal the face of the church and how this face is, at times, disfigured,” he said. “I am thinking in particular of the sins against the unity of the church, of the divisions in the body of the church.” He called for the Catholic Church to overcome “individualism” and “rivalry,” saying they were only for those “who have distanced themselves from the faith.”
A courageous leader!
He knew his capacity. He acknowledged his fate and the uncertainty of his future as “Emeritus Pope.” Yet he mustered the courage to voluntarily resign. His type is rare in this age.
Worthy of special note is his keeping to his earlier promise to lead a quiet life, and make discrete public appearance, only when necessary. Since he was flown to his permanent residence at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, nine years ago, Benedict XVI consigned himself away from cameras, appearing a total of three times at public Masses in the Vatican.
This was believed to be a way of avoiding the scandal of having two popes overlapping each other in prominence at the same time.
On 3 August 2020, his aides disclosed that he had an inflammation of the trigeminal nerve. On 2 December of the same year, Maltese cardinal Mario Grech announced to Vatican News that Benedict had difficulty speaking and that he had told the new cardinals after a consistory that “the Lord has taken away my speech in order to let me appreciate silence.”
This got me emotional, but it reminded me of his earlier exhortation in 2012:
“In a world where there is so
much noise, so much
bewilderment, there is a
need for silent adoration of
Jesus concealed in the Host.
Be assiduous in the prayer
of adoration and teach it to
the faithful. It is a source of
comfort and light,
particularly to those who
are suffering.”
Benedict became the longest-lived pope on 4 September 2020 at 93 years, 4 months, 16 days, surpassing the age of Pope Leo XIII. Two years later, which is the ninth year of his historic resignation, he climbed the 95th floor in age, and his health declined further.
And on the last day of 2022, the humble gentle emeritus successor of St. Peter breathed his last.
Ten months to his death, he wrote this: “Soon I will face the final judge of my life. Although I may have many reasons for fear and fear as I look back on my long life, I am glad, nevertheless, because I firmly believe that the Lord is not only the just judge, but also the friend and brother who has already suffered my shortcomings and is therefore, as a judge, also my lawyer. In view of the hour of judgment, the grace of being a Christian becomes evident to me. Being a Christian gives me knowledge and, even more, friendship with the judge of my life and allows me to confidently cross the dark door of death. In this regard, I do not fail to remember what John tells us at the beginning of the Apocalypse: see the Son of Man in all his greatness and falls at his feet as dead. However, He, placing his right hand on him, says: “Do not be afraid! It’s Me…”
He was everything a shepherd could be. He loved the sheepfold so much, he allowed another shepherd whom he believed was stronger than him in keeping the sheep to take charge. Yet he stayed true to his vocation to the end.
The world will definitely miss him.
Mr Jude Eze wrote from ezejudeogechi@gmail.com
