Top aides discuss possibility that Pope John Paul II may one day choose to step down.
From THE RECORD 6/6/02
By JOHN THAVIS
Catholic News Service
When Pope John Paul II was healthy, talk of papal resignation was taboo.
Now, as the 82-year-old pontiff struggles with his physical frailty, even top aides like Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the doctrinal congregation, are discussing the possibility that the pope may one day choose to step down.
Cardinal Ratzinger's comments in mid-May and those of other church leaders have given rise to a rash of resignation scenarios. The most-discussed theory hinges on the pope's planned visit to Poland in August.
Some people think the pope has in mind a one-way trip to his homeland. Under this scenario, he would announce his resignation in his former diocese of Krakow and retire to a Polish monastery to pray. (Note: As we know now, he did not take this opportunity to resig.) In August, the number of voting members of the College of Cardinals coincidentally falls to 120 - the upper limit set by conclave rules.
There isn't much on the announced papal calendar after August, and an expected trip to Croatia in September was recently scratched.
Others believe the pope, who suffers from a debilitating neurological disease believed to be Parkinson's, has accepted the idea of eventual resignation but has not set a date. He will keep going until he cannot go any further, they say.
Because Parkinson's normally leads to physical incapacity, some sources have said it is likely the pope has prepared a resignation letter in case that happens. Pope Paul VI wrote a similar letter, according to a recent book by his secretary, Archbishop Pasquale Macchi.
The purpose of such a letter would be to avoid administrative paralysis of the church if the pontiff were debilitated - perhaps suddenly - and could not express his decision to resign.
But this kind of a letter would raise ambiguities, because any resignation by the pope must be his own decision. He cannot be "resigned" by others.
"Who is going to say to him, 'Holy Father, you are now incapacitate? That's the problem,'" said Msgr. Charles Burns, a church historian who spent more than 25 years as an official of the Vatican Archives.
Church law explicitly allows for a pope to resign, but says the decision must be made freely and "duly manifested." Experts say this means in writing or with witnesses; ideally, it would be communicated to the College of Cardinals - although no one needs to formally accept a pope's resignation for it to be valid.
Most Vatican officials agree that Pope John Paul has made his physical suffering an integral part of his papal ministry, giving his pontificate an added poignancy and a different kind of impact in recent years.
"The pope is operating under limitations that are visible to all. But he notes the big show of affection wherever he goes, and this encourages him," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls said during a May trip to Bulgaria, where the pope moved and spoke with great difficulty during his public events.
But although many agree on the pope's courage in the face of physical trials, people at the Vatican and throughout the church appear divided on the resignation issue.
Cardinal Ratzinger said the pope has an "iron will" and is still able to manage church affairs. But "if he were to see that he absolutely could not (continue), then he certainly. would resign," he said.
Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa also said he was sure the pope would have the courage to resign if he believed that, for the good of the church, a healthier man were needed in the papacy.
Because the remarks by both cardinals were reported the same day, it came across in the media almost as a lobbying campaign. But like many things at the Vatican, it was less planned than it appeared; the cardinals were simply asked the question by reporters in separate interviews.
Others have voiced the opposite view.
"The pope is not some kind of manager who, when he grows weak or sick, is set aside because he can't manage the interests of the company," said Krysztof Zanussi, an award winning Polish film director who currently is making a documentary on the pope.
The last and perhaps the only pope who voluntarily resigned was St. Celestine V, who abdicated in 1294 after only four months in office.
His "great refusal" earned him a place in the vestibule of Dante's "Inferno," but history has viewed him as a truly holy man who rejected the political machinations of the medieval papacy.
In more recent times, Msgr. Burns said, there was evidence to suggest that Pope Pius XII had left instructions that, if the Nazis arrested him during World War II, the College of Cardinals was to consider him resigned and elect a new pope. The idea was that, if the Nazis marched him off to Berlin, it would be as Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli and not as Pope Pius XII.
Health questions are trickier, but have been overcome by previous pontiffs. Pope Clement XII became totally blind in the second year of his pontificate, in 1732, and in later years conducted audiences and ran the church's affairs from his bed '
"They had to put his hand on the documents, and then he scrawled his signature," Msgr. Burns said.
Church historians have sometimes marveled that modern popes have escaped the kind of serious mental deterioration often endured by the elderly.
'We've been spared that. We've been spared an awful lot," said Msgr. Bums. He and several other Vatican officials emphasized that Pope John Paul's problems are physical, not mental.
"He seems to be sharp as a tack. Maybe the day will come when he gives a big sigh and says, 'I just can't do it any longer.' But at the moment he's still determined to continue," he said.