Robert Moynihan of Inside the Vatican relays this story of an encounter with a voting Cardinal on the streets of Rome the day before the conclave. I excerpt it here because it captures so much of my sentiment.
“I only wanted to tell you one thing,” I said. “That I loved Pope Benedict.”
He stood still.
“I did too, and I do love him,” the cardinal said.
“And so I have been troubled and a bit off balance since February 11,” I said.
And then, as if filled with a sudden emotion, I saw the cardinal’s face grow dark and sad, and he said, forcefully: “I love him, but this should never have happened. He never should have left his office.”
I was silent.
“It is like a man and a woman, a husband and wife, a mother and father in relation to their children,” he said. “What do they say?” It seemed he was asking me the question.
I was silent.
“They say, ‘until death do us part!’ They stay together always.”
So I understood him to be saying that he felt a Successor of Peter should not step down from the throne, no matter how weary and tired, but continue until death.
I felt the words he was speaking were the words of an argument that may have been used even among the cardinals, but of course, that may not be the case.
But I felt that I was catching a glimpse of how at least one cardinal was thinking about the Pope’s renunciation.
“Your eminence,” I said, “I’ve forgotten. Are you already above age 80, or not?
“I am not yet 80,” he told me.
“So you will be voting tomorrow.”
He nodded, and a look passed over his eyes which seemed filled with shadows and concerns. I was surprised at his intensity. I was surprised by the whole conversation.
He squeezed my hand. “Is there anything else I can do?” I asked.
“Pray for us,” he said. “Pray for us.”
He turned as if he needed to go.
“I have to go.”
He took a step away from me, then turned again.
“It is a dangerous time. Pray for us.”
A dangerous time indeed.
March 12, 2013 at 5:47 am
Shouldn't we be blaming Blessed JPII for changing the face of the papacy the way he did with his constant travel, charisma , and seemingly endless meetings outside the Vatican? Shouldn't husbands spend more time at home instead of abroad?
I think the scrutiny and analogies directed towards B16's abdication are being used to conveniently mask our wordly anxiety. The world is changing, as is medical science, and I think these concerns for an abdicated papacy are more tolerable than the concerns that will.come when the Holy Father will be in a vegetative state in a hospital bed.
March 12, 2013 at 5:49 am
That being said, I will continue to pray.
March 12, 2013 at 11:28 am
Pray in gratitude to Pope Benedict XVI, do not be so harsh in judgment.
He was (and is) thinking of the best to the Church.
March 12, 2013 at 11:57 am
Please spend an hour in adoration if you can. Both our parish priests were stressing the importance of the necessity of our prayers for the cardinals.
March 12, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Shouldn't we be blaming Blessed JPII for changing the face of the papacy the way he did with his constant travel, charisma , and seemingly endless meetings outside the Vatican? Shouldn't husbands spend more time at home instead of abroad?
Parents visit their children, wherever they may live.
March 12, 2013 at 2:04 pm
We'll be fine
March 12, 2013 at 3:28 pm
I have a bit of skepticism about this article. Perhaps I am just biased, but when a reporter writes with too much novel-like detail, I get suspicious. I have no reason to doubt Mr. Moynihan – he may just be doing a very good job of describing the incident. But my antenna went up.
March 12, 2013 at 5:18 pm
I had the same concern. A bit too much drama. I heard Mr. Moynihan speak two years ago and he definitely seems to enjoy being the purveyor of vatican intrigue.
March 12, 2013 at 3:30 pm
"Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
Have faith not fear.
"God has not given us a spirit if fear but of power and love and a sound mind."
March 12, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Yes, I will continue to pray. But it is our mother Church who has decided that a Pope may renounce his thrown, and so no, it is not like husband and wife parting, or mommy and daddy splitting. It is, in fact, like a Pope exercising his Church-given right.
March 12, 2013 at 5:21 pm
These articles about the abdication by Pope Benedict and the worries about any other Pope ever doing the same thing are getting very old. The fact has been, and remains, that abdication of the Papacy IS allowable. This continual discourse where this is being made out to be a huge mistake, without much, if any, apparent consideration of the possibility that Pope Benedict actually made the right choice, is getting old indeed.
March 12, 2013 at 5:45 pm
It is indeed a dangerous time. I am shocked to learn that out of the 115 Cardinal electors, only 6 are fully opposed to contraception. Appalling.
March 12, 2013 at 11:51 pm
Our Holy Father Benedict has not abandoned us; he prays for us. He has wisely and prayerfully given the burdens of office to another man, which he can do and for which there is precedence. We are so blessed in Pope Benedict, and always will be.
March 13, 2013 at 5:47 pm
Let us take a look at what happened when JPII was Pope. In 1994 he stated in writing that should he become seriously sick he would resign but changed his mind and we saw what happened when he stayed in. He collapsed at Lourdes in 2004 and in the end was having his closest associates running the Church for him. Is this really fair to all the Faithful. Benedict may be seriously ill or even dying for all we may know.