Who Judges Peter?: Second in a Continuing Series on the Current Crisis

Pope St. John Paul II in Winter

During the final decade plus of John Paul II's pontificate there were those who openly questioned if he should retire. I'm not talking about journalists or commentators, though that may have been the case. I'm not talking of those who opposed him on theological or political grounds, though there were many of those. I'm speaking anecdotally, of conversations around dinner tables or over beer and wings after a long day. These were priests and religious who were otherwise devoted to John Paul, but had concerns. He was declining physically, and especially in the last five or six years of his life saw a marked decline in his health. The once vigorous, athletic man was increasingly stooped, unsteady on his feet, his face rendered expressionless by the Parkinson's disease that ravaged his body. People wondered out loud if he should step aside for a younger, healthier man. What if he became disabled? What if his mental faculties fail him? How can the Church function with an incapacitated pope? I heard more than one priest wonder out loud if there should be a mandatory retirement age for popes like there is for other bishops.

I understood the arguments, but was left unmoved. The pope is the successor of Peter. He is only a man, true. There is politicking that goes on before and maybe during the conclave. While the Holy Spirit directs, He's not a dictator. The cardinals don't lose their freedom when they enter the Sistine Chapel. There are human agendas that can steer the electors to one candidate or another. We can argue if God's candidate always wins the papal election, but once the vote is validly held and decided, and the bishop elected accepts in freedom, it is God's will that he faithfully fulfill the Petrine ministry he is entrusted with. He holds the Keys, he enjoys the charism of infallibility, he bears the terrible responsibility before God to tend His flock until the Lord returns, or calls him home in death (a far more likely scenario). 

Beyond that the pope is a bishop. For well over the first millennium  and a half of the Church's history, bishops were assigned for life, to preside over one local church, as the lone bishop. He was seen as the father of the diocese. The father of a family doesn't move from one household to another, and he doesn't stop being the father because he is old or sick. And there is only one father at a time. So a bishop didn't get "promoted" from one local church to another. He was married to his local church, and the commitment was until death dis they part. A great scandal in the Middle Ages involved bishops holding the title of several sees at once, collecting the revenue from each. Beyond the obvious greed and neglect (since most of these bishops never set foot in their other possessions), this kind of bishop was a bigamist, married to more than one church at a time. Even the practice of having auxiliary bishops is a relatively new development. A bishop, even to this day, has to be the bishop of somewhere, and there can be only one ordinary at a time. So auxiliaries are made titular bishops of defunct diocese, often in the Middle East or North Africa, where the local church died out centuries ago. It's a sort of legal fiction, but it maintains the illusion of the bishop as the sole father of his family church. And, as I wrote, he was bishop unto death; none of this mandatory retirement letter at 75 business.

I'm not going to argue the wisdom of having auxiliary bishops, or moving experienced men from lesser responsibilities to greater, or even mandatory retirement ages (or maybe I will at another time). It's simply this: the pope isn't just a regular bishop.  He holds a singular position in the Church as Christ's Vicar. He presides over the other churches in charity. He isn't a first among equals: he alone carries the Keys entrusted to Peter by Christ. He alone enjoys the charism of infallibility. He is a spiritual father to us all. He can not be deposed lawfully. He can not be impeached like a common politician, because he isn't a common politician. He is the Supreme Pontiff.

I know that in a rebellious and lawless age authority means nothing, and even those legitimately filled with righteous rage can be blinded by their condition, but have we no shame or fear of God? To demand that a pope resign, as if he were some governmental functionary, staggers belief. 

Some will point to St. Paul challenging Peter over the issue of table fellowship with gentile Christians. Paul opposed him to his face, but he didn't demand he hand over the Keys. Some will invoke Catherine of Siena. Catherine called the pope back to his rightful place, but she didn't demand he take off the tiara. There have been saintly popes and there have been scoundrels on the Chair of Peter. There have been holy men and moral disgraces wearing the papal robes as well. The failings of a pope gives none of us the right to stand as his judge, or jump to conclusions based on the testimony of one man. If David feared deposing Saul, when he had a clear claim to the thrown, just because Saul was God's anointed, how much more should we tread lightly here, with more than simple respect.

I understand that there is a great deal of pain out there. As I wrote last time, just when it seemed like the worst of this mess was passed us, it has come back with a vengeance. Some of Pope Francis' critics were themselves victims of clerical abuse or harassment. I don't think that Archbishop Viganòs testimony should be brushed aside without seriously examining it's veracity. The Holy Father, by his own admission, hasn't always handled the sex abuse crisis well, especially in Chile. I don't think the pope, any pope, is above scrutiny or questioning. I do think he's above being treated presumptuously. 

The thought of popes resigning, or having a mandatory retirement age imposed upon then was repugnant to me twenty years ago, and the feeling hasn't changed. I respected Pope Benedict XVI's decision to step down, but was made uneasy by it. My impression is that it helped contribute to the present atmosphere where the pope is treated like a company head or civil leader, subject to stock holder votes and daily tracking polls. If we don't like the job he's doing, we can boycott or put pressure on him to step aside. He isn't our father, in this case, just an interchangeable functionary. 

St. John Bosco had a deep devotion for the pope. He was close to Pope Pius IX in particular. It was this pontiff who encouraged Don Bosco's mission, and urged him to write his story in what became the Memoirs of the Oratory. Don Bosco didn't have such a close relationship with Pius' successor Leo XIII. There were times when that pope made decisions that hurt Don Bosco's cause. On one such occasion when an assistant asked why he was deciding against the priest, even though he knew the he was in the right, Leo replied, "Don Bosco is an obedient son; he will follow my commands faithfully. The other I'm to so sure about." But when Leo asked him to build the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome, (a project that pretty much killed him) he did it without hesitation. For Don Bosco it didn't matter who the pope was, any request was considered an order to be fulfilled as a son obeys a father. 

So, I stand with Francis: not because of his agenda. Not because I think he's perfect in everything he says and does. I stand with him because he is Peter. Because I believe the promise of our Lord that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church. And because I believe that all that is hidden will be revealed in the Spirit's good time.

Until then, question, demand the truth, put pressure on bishops and priests to tell the truth and live their call faithfully. I'm not suggesting passivity. But I am expecting that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling as we live out these confusing days. I expect that we understand that in our present situation, with so much contradictory information and spin going on, we should acknowledge what we know, but also admit what we don't. Be slow to judge, quick to listen, always at prayer, and always trusting in the Lord.