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Papal Resignation
Today, in about twenty minutes (as I write this), the current Pope, will formally and fully have retired from his post. Now, the initial question that comes to my head, at least, is 'so what?'
I'm a christian, but I'm not a Roman Catholic. The Pope is not formally recognized by either Church I would consider myself to be a member of. Yet, I sat and watched yesterday as he gave his last address in a language I couldn't understand and I wanted to know what he said. Consequently, I was grateful for the translation that BBC news were providing.
So, why did it matter to me? Well, whether people like it or not, the Pope remains one of the most well known, openly christian figures in the world. When he speaks on a topic, secular society generally understands that to mean 'this is what christians think of this topic'. It's not an ideal situation, from any point of view, but it can certainly get conversations started.
The fact that this was a resignation from office, as opposed to seeing the Pope die in office, also made it significant, because it was known in advance, that this would be his final public audience. Consequently, large crowds had gathered in St Peter's Square to hear him speak, along with broadcast media from around the world (I presume, the BBC were there, it makes sense to me that others would be too). As the first Pope to resign in nearly 600 years, this marks a remarkable end to the Pope's time in office.
Another factor, for me, was that while I remember the death of Pope John Paul II, and the resultant election of Pope Benedict XVI that followed, this is the first time I've seen a full papal cycle of election and departure, Pope John Paul II having already been in office for 13 years when I was born.
So, why does the Pope resigning matter? Because it's something that hasn't happened for nearly 600 years, because it's a change in leadership for 1.16 billion people, because the Pope, as leader of those 1.16 billion, is in charge of more people than any other government in the world, save only China and India.
I'm sure I'll have more to say on this when the conclave to elect a new pope is convened (and/or a new pope elected).
I'm a christian, but I'm not a Roman Catholic. The Pope is not formally recognized by either Church I would consider myself to be a member of. Yet, I sat and watched yesterday as he gave his last address in a language I couldn't understand and I wanted to know what he said. Consequently, I was grateful for the translation that BBC news were providing.
So, why did it matter to me? Well, whether people like it or not, the Pope remains one of the most well known, openly christian figures in the world. When he speaks on a topic, secular society generally understands that to mean 'this is what christians think of this topic'. It's not an ideal situation, from any point of view, but it can certainly get conversations started.
The fact that this was a resignation from office, as opposed to seeing the Pope die in office, also made it significant, because it was known in advance, that this would be his final public audience. Consequently, large crowds had gathered in St Peter's Square to hear him speak, along with broadcast media from around the world (I presume, the BBC were there, it makes sense to me that others would be too). As the first Pope to resign in nearly 600 years, this marks a remarkable end to the Pope's time in office.
Another factor, for me, was that while I remember the death of Pope John Paul II, and the resultant election of Pope Benedict XVI that followed, this is the first time I've seen a full papal cycle of election and departure, Pope John Paul II having already been in office for 13 years when I was born.
So, why does the Pope resigning matter? Because it's something that hasn't happened for nearly 600 years, because it's a change in leadership for 1.16 billion people, because the Pope, as leader of those 1.16 billion, is in charge of more people than any other government in the world, save only China and India.
I'm sure I'll have more to say on this when the conclave to elect a new pope is convened (and/or a new pope elected).