Should Popes retire?
Apparently the new book by longtime John Paul II aide Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwsz of Krakow claims that John Paul II seriously considered retiring at age 80 as his health began to fail from Parkinson’s.
Should Popes retire at age 80? (Cardinals over 80 cannnot vote in papal elections.) I think everyone agrees that bishops should submit their resignation at age 75. But the prospect of an ex-pope influencing or seeming to influence the decisions of a current Pope is potentially worrying. And Benedict XVI in this scenario would be done next year, which seems premature, but which of course would have shaped the conclave. Balance that against the fact that in John Paul II’s last years as Pope, as he exerted less and less control over the church, we in effect had several popes, not just one. I guess I vote for the watch and the handshake at 80. You?
No merely human person is indispensable. Consequently there is nothing odd about the idea that the Bishop of Rome should retire. The question is: under what circumstances? Certainly when health makes it difficult for anyone to do her/his job properly, she/he should retire or abdicate and allow a successor to take over. Why should the Bishop of Rome of Rome not do likewise? The saying attributed to one recent incumbent: “Did Christ come down from the cross?” shows an odd sense of self-importance, to put it politely.
Putting a date on papal retirement rather than looking to the health of the incumbent is more difficult. My own sense is that if bishops generally should retire at a certain age, the Bishop of Rome should not be an exception. Perhaps we should have younger persons in the job but not let them go on forever. Does anyone really want a pope with dementia?
While we’re daydreaming, how about selecting a Bishop of Rome to serve for a single term of ten years, and having a mandated retirement age of seventy? It would encourage the choice of younger candidates, ensure fairly frequent turnover, allow for more diversity among holders of the office, and discourage the cult of personality. The presence on the world scene of a small group of former Popes doing good deeds and writing books on their various legacy topics might take media pressure off the “Pope of the moment.” Such a group might also offer their accumulated experience to their successor.
And while we’re at it, it might be a good idea to allow the Popes to wear ordinary clerical attire most of the time. Those silky white outfits, fur- trimmed capelets, and red shoes are a public relations handicap, no matter what Versace might think.
The Bishop of Rome should never retire…it is his cross until he dies. We saw the powerful witness of John Paul II during his illness….he showed the world that suffering can bring us closer to God. It was a beautiful testimony and reminder of what Christ did for us on the cross. We would have never seen that if he had “retired” a few years earlier.
The Bishop of Rome is in theory the first among equals. At least that is how he was regarded in the early Church and is still regarded by the Eastern Orthodox. Therefore, if there are “term limits” for bishops and age restrictions for cardinals on voting in a conclave, why shouldn’t there be some sort of mandatory retirement age for the Pope? 80 seems an entirely appropriate age to me. The old adage “a Pope isn’t sick until he dies” has an element of humor to it, but it is also true, as John McGreevy pointed out, that JPII exerted less and less control on the Church as his illness progressed. It’s also true that he provided “powerful witness,” as RH notes, to the redemptive value of suffering, but would his witness have really been any less powerful if he had stepped aside as Pope and became, for example, the archpriest at one of the major churches in Rome. People would have still flocked from the world over to see him in an arguably more pastoral and informal setting than he was in as Pope.
I’m not criticizing JPII for not stepping down, and the reports coming out that he seriously considered resigning make him even more admirable in my mind, but there seem to be more benefits than detriments to having a mandatory retirement age. (One possible detriment: Will we have a lengthy campaign season by papal wannabes if there is a mandatory retirement age? Will primaries, campaign commercials, and sound bites become commonplace? :) )
As to Susan Gannon’s suggestion about a change in papal fashion, I’m still waiting for a Pope who wears a simple black cassock, perhaps with a white skullcap to identify his status. I’m betting such simplicity would set off a tsunami of change in episcopal garb as cardinals and bishops raced to adopt the look of parish pastors. It might be an insignificant and superficial change to some Catholics, but I think the Church would be the better for it in the eyes of Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
If the Pope can retire, then there’s no basis to say he must not.
A problem in human terms (I hope we still see our Pontiffs as mostly quite fallible) is the difficulty of letting go of the power one has. There is a real seductive quality to hanging on and perceiving oneself as indispensible in the job.
That’s why office terms are useful and, I guess, mandatory retirement age as well .
So there’s also something to be said for BXVI considering retirement at 80, as they say, as another step in elderhood.
RH:
Unfortunately, a long-lived pope is also the church’s cross to bear until he dies.
If other bishops have a retirement age, why not the Bishop of Rome?
It should have gone without saying that for a pope who is not well to retire is not to come down from the cross. He can unite his sufferings with Christ’s as well and as much retired as he can as pope. Being Bishop of Rome is rather different from being crucified. Or am I missing something?
I did not see “the powerful witness of John Paul II during his illness.” I saw, instead, a man increasingly “losing it” in terms of his ability to manage the affairs of the Vatican.
This talk about suffering reminds me of a comment someone made when Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” was playing in theaters. The writer mentioned that Jesus said “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” not “Permit the little children to come and watch me suffer.”
I remember JPII’s final appearance at his window. With all due respect, I saw a pathetic man trying to deal as best he could with the ravage of his illness. I was not inspired.
Am I the only who disagrees with the policy of removing Cardinals over the age of 80 from papal elections? Particularly since that really is one where there has historically been self-selection for not participating for reasons of health, loss of faculties, etc. I really don’t like the idea of all the papal electors (but then I would broaden the electorate beyond the college of cardinals if I ran the world) coming from the designees of a single individual as almost happened this time. And as the case of Cardinal Koenig, who was articulate and well-informed at the age of almost 100, indicates, there are certainly men (and hopefull someday women) able to contribute at an advanced age.
For similar reasons I am suspicious of Susan Gannon’s wish for a single term of ten years with younger more dynamic men. I’m not sure it would encourage diversity, it might well encourage ambition, and could have other unintended consequences. But any suggestions about diminishing the personality cult (which project may be already underway?) are welcome.
I really don’t mean to knock John Paul II on this issue, but I think the problems in church governance that arose in his last years do present something of an object lesson that need planning to prevent a recurrence. But I don’t see that any formalized resignation process would be an improvement.
I am inclined to agree with Gene O’Grady, if I have understood his point, that the cut off at age eighty for participating in the election when there is a vacancy in the Roman See is arbitrary. It is one thing to say that a man of eighty should not aspire to be elected pope, another to say that he should have no sense who might be a good pope.
Yes, they should retire. As for the details……