By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Retired Pope Benedict XVI has never doubted or regretted his decision to resign, knowing it was the right thing to do for the good of the Church, said Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household and personal secretary to the retired pope.
“The Church needs a strong helmsman,” and Pope Benedict was keenly aware of his own waning strength while faced with such a demanding ministry, the archbishop said in an interview published Feb. 12 in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Two years after Pope Benedict’s historic announcement Feb. 11 to step down as supreme pontiff, Archbishop Ganswein said the retired pope “is convinced that the decision he made and announced was the right one. He has no doubt.”
“He is very serene and certain in this: His decision was necessary and made ‘after having repeatedly examined my conscience before God,’” he said, citing words from the pope’s Feb. 11, 2013, announcement.
Pope Benedict had told a stunned audience of cardinals assembled for an ordinary public consistory that “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”
Archbishop Ganswein said in the interview that Pope Benedict was aware of his “duty not to look out for his own self but for the good of the Church.”
The pope spelled out the precise reasons for his decision, the archbishop said, and “all the other considerations and hypotheses are wrong,” including assumptions that the pope’s resignation was not valid or had not been done in full freedom.
“Hypotheses cannot be based on things that are not true and totally absurd,” Archbishop Ganswein said. “Benedict himself said he made his decision with freedom, without any pressure, and he assured his ‘reverence and obedience’ to the new pope.’”
Lack of Understanding of the Church
The archbishop said doubts about the validity of the resignation and subsequent election of Pope Francis stem from a lack of understanding of the Church.
Also, the option for a pope to resign is explicitly written in the Code of Canon Law, which says a pope may step down as long as the decision is made freely and is “duly manifested.”
Archbishop Ganswein said Pope Benedict, who will turn 88 in April, is still following the prayerful, quiet life he wanted to dedicate himself to upon his retirement.
Like his namesake, St. Benedict – the father of Western monasticism – the retired pope “has chosen a monastic life. He goes out (in public) only when Pope Francis asks him to; as for the rest, he does not accept other invitations,” said the archbishop, who lives with retired Pope Benedict in a renovated monastery and has been his personal secretary since 2003.
Archbishop Ganswein told the newspaper that in addition to the pope’s usual routine of prayer, reading, keeping up with correspondence, receiving visitors, watching the evening news and walking in the Vatican Gardens, he has been playing the piano much more often: “Mozart especially, but also other compositions that come to mind at the moment; he plays from memory.”
The only health issues, the archbishop said, are “every now and then his legs give him some problems, that’s all.” The pope, who has had a pacemaker for several years and uses a cane, still has an incredibly sharp mind, the archbishop added.
When asked what Popes Benedict and Francis might have in common, Archbishop Ganswein said that while their ways of expression are very different, the one thing they share is “the substance, the content, the deposit of faith to be proclaimed, promoted and defended.”
Pope Benedict’s legacy will be for us in the years ahead. He is one of the most intellectual popes we have ever had. His knowledge of Church law, history and maintaining some modicum of tradition in and for our Church is most noteworthy. His sense of humility at resigning, regardless of all the conjecturing by the media, is indeed moving, but he knew his health condition. And so, let us pray for this man of God, in that he prays for us and that he is given a long life to witness the fruits of his labor.
Pope Benedict leaves a tremendous gift to the Church – the example the first Pope in almost 600 years to step down as Supreme Pontiff. His stated reason was diminishing physical and mental health. To the “people of God”, he made the “unthinkable” very much “thinkable.” In his early writings, Pope Benedict, a man of great intellect, wrote from a progressive, forward-looking theological perspective. But the chaos that broke out in the late 60s and early 70s throughout European society, universities and the Church, greatly disturbed him and pushed him towards a more conservative stance. That became more entrenched when named Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith in 1981. As Prefect he came down hard on, not only on progressive and liberation theologians, but also faithful theologians who had served Bishops as “periti”, experts, at Vat. II, and had continued their work in the development of theology. Pope Benedict was loved by many because he protected, maintained and even restored many of the traditional aspects of the Church. Others, however, disliked what they felt was a regression In liturgy and also a continuing return to highly centralized governance. Primarily an intellectual, nevertheless, there is a gospel is at the center of much of what he wrote. The titles of two of his encyclicals: “God is Love” and “Love in Truth” direct our attention to the essential Gospel value of “love.” It has also been pointed out that “Friendship with Christ” was a frequent theme in his preaching. An important part of Pope Benedict’s legacy, that must not be ignored, is the facing and dealing more openly with the sexual scandal in the Church. He deposed from public ministry and sent to a monastery, the founder of the Legionnairies of Christ, Marcial Maciel, a man guilty of major sexual abuses and infidelities in his life.
Yet, when Pope Benedict announced his resignation and gave the reason being his declining physical and mental health, there nevertheless arose a whole “industry” churning out reports of the “real reasons” why the Pope resigned. We read about being forced to step down “because of the many scandals and controversies in the Roman Curia that had plagues his papacy in its final years.” There was “the so-called Vatileaks crisis, when internal memos passed to the media by the pope’s own valet detailed infighting and intrigue in the papal court. ….. also sex and money scandals ….” But Pope Benedict remained very clear that his resignation was never forced and resigned because of diminishing health.. A point I have not seen touched upon by anyone, yet I believe central in all of this, is the “process of discernment” that Pope Benedict undoubtedly went through before making his church stunning decision. Today Benedict says very clearly that he has no regrets about his decision to retire. He stands in the conviction that this has been God’s will for him. Paul in Gal. 5 gives us signs of validation in discernment, signs when a decision comes from the Spirit, or from the Evil One. Peace, joy, signified by no regrets, for example, indicate a decision under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This example is perhaps Benedict’s greatest legacy to the whole Church – the People of God. Be not manipulated by all kinds of external forces, nor by personal inner pulls and pushes, but listen and surrender to the Spirit inside you and by the fruits and shall know the truth of it all.