Why Is the Pope Resigning?

No one expected the Holy Father Benedict XVI to resign. When I heard, I felt my heart shrink with pain, and the tears came at once. Benedict XVI has meant a great deal to our Holy Catholic Church, above all in these years of so many problems.

As I wrote to the Holy Father last June, in this same newspaper, in an Open Letter to Benedict XVI, we can see clearly how the Holy Spirit guides him when, with his incomparable intelligence, he shows impressive humility, patience, wisdom and peace. Every message he gives is like an oasis of spiritual theology that shows us plainly the way to fall in love with God, because he knows better than anyone that the more souls are set on fire with love of God, the greater the flame that will spread Love, Justice and Peace to every corner of the Earth. That great Love of God, which has filled the hearts of so many Catholics all over the world, is what lets us say today, with great happiness, that our Church is more Alive and more Young than ever.

After the first shock of the news, I quickly looked up the words he had spoken moments earlier at St. Peter’s. That was when I understood perfectly the reason for his decision. Benedict XVI showed us once again that he is a wise man, and that he holds that office not out of a desire for power or for any human reason, but because God asked it of him seven years ago, when he was just two years short of eighty.

Speaking to the cardinals present (among them our Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino), the Pope explained, in substance, that after examining his conscience before God again and again, he had come to the certainty that, because of his advanced age, he no longer had the strength to carry out the Petrine ministry properly. Steering the barque of Peter and proclaiming the Gospel, he said, requires vigor of both body and spirit, and that vigor had diminished in him over recent months to the point that he had to recognize his inability to fulfill the ministry entrusted to him. Fully aware of the seriousness of the act, and in complete freedom, he declared that he was renouncing the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to him by the cardinals on April 19, 2005.

All we can say is that this example of humility Benedict XVI has given the world, in this Year of Faith, is truly admirable. And we understand perfectly that it takes iron strength and health to keep pace with a Church and a world moving at breakneck speed. Because our Church, and I say this with great joy!, is full of young people, and to run alongside them, accompanying and teaching them, one has to be in good shape.

Bishop Diego Padrón, president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference, said right after the news that Benedict XVI was setting “a good example” with his resignation, showing that it is not about power for power’s sake, and he called it “a day of light” for the Church. For us Christians, news so surprising that at first it shakes us becomes wonderful news full of hope and light, because we know that Christ is the one steering the barque of the Church and that everything that happens will be for her good. We have complete confidence that the next Pope will also be exemplary and much loved by all his children throughout the world.

What remains for us Catholics now is to pray hard for our dear Benedict XVI and for all our cardinals, who will take part in the next Conclave, to be held around the middle of March. Among the “papabili” there will be our dear Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino and many Latin American cardinals who have given a great example as excellent shepherds in very difficult situations in their own countries.

Today, Ash Wednesday, is a good moment to intensify our prayers for our Holy Catholic Church and for our future Pope. God willing, I will be there, waiting for the “Habemus Papam” that stirs such emotion in the hearts of all of us who love our Holy Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church. Long live our Holy Church! And thank you, a thousand thanks, Benedict XVI!