In what some are calling a display of divine displeasure at the pope’s decision to resign, a bolt of lightening struck the Cross atop the dome of Peter’s Basilica in Rome only hours after the Pope’s shocking announcement. The pope’s decision left Catholics confused and bewildered as to the direction in which the Church is now headed.
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“Quo Vadis” is a Latin phrase meaning “Where are you going.” It refers to the encounter between St. Peter (the first pope) and Jesus Christ on the Appian Way. Peter, fleeing from the persecutions and likely crucifixion of the Emperor Nero had a vision of Christ whom he asked "Domine, quo vadis?" Jesus answered him, "Whither I go, thou can not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards" (John 13:36). Peter understood this to mean that Jesus was going back to Rome to be crucified again. Peter, following his own fate, returned to Rome and was crucified at the foot of the Vatican Hills where St Peter's Basilica stands today.
Is Pope Benedict XVI on the same Appian Way today fleeing the wolves? The last pope John Paul II suffered from such physical disabilities and spiritual tortures at the end of his papacy that he could no longer hide them from public view. But he did not abandon the barque of Peter. Instead he allowed his scourged body to be held up as a testament to his faith and trust in God - just as Christ did when he stood before Pilate and the rebel crowd. Even when pressured several times to resign from those both inside and outside the Church, Pope John Paul II did not cave in to the wolves’ demands. Rather, he used their taunts as an opportunity to teach us how “Christ, [in his hour of darkness], did not come down from the cross.” He taught us: “Now is the time to work, heaven is the time to rest.” So where is Benedict going at this late hour? Did he perhaps receive a vision altogether different from that of Peter?
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Many in the Church - especially those who previously applauded Pope John Paul II’s fortitude in embracing his papacy - are now, in rather stark reversal, favorably comparing Pope Benedict XVI’s abdication with that of the abdications of Pope Celestine V and Pope Gregory XII. However, contrary to the pundits these were exceptional cases. Celestine V, resigned after having been snatched by force from his hermit’s cell. Gregory XII, was forced to resign in order to resolve the very serious issue of the Great Western Schism. Where is the exception in Benedict XVI’s case? His intellectual faculties of fully intact. His health, according to Holy See Press Office director Fr. Federico Lombardi, is “generally good”. Is there something more we are not being told? Every pontiff experiences a certain human inadequacy in fulfilling the office of the Vicar of Christ. But the Holy Spirit is most assuredly guaranteed to stay with the pope from the time he is elected to the very end of his pontificate. Most likely only the pope will ever know for sure if he has chosen to follow the will of God or the will of man.
The pope’s abdication, while quite permissible from a theological and canonical standpoint, is nonetheless extremely innovative and revolutionary from a historical perspective. It represents a serious break with tradition insofar as the Chair of Peter has now become an office that can be judged by the same criteria by which modernity judges things. Essentially, the papacy now runs the risk of having its image stripped of its sacredness in the eyes of the world.
Despite this continuing trend toward modernity Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to the clergy of the Rome diocese on February 14, wished to assure Catholics that 50 years after Vatican II, “the strength of the real Council has been revealed...and is becoming the real power which is also true reform, true renewal of the Church.” But there are few if any signs of this new springtime. One need only look around a bit to see that very few of his priests and bishops pay him any real homage other than the usual empty lip service betoken wolves in sheep’s clothing. This is especially visible in their almost unanimous disdain for the pope’s Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum promoting the Latin Mass. It is also evident in their refusal to follow the Pope’s many good examples regarding the Novus Ordo such as his abandonment of the practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand while standing.
Additionally confusing is the fact that the pope is leaving office blaming - not the long developing trend toward Modernism in the Church - but the media for causing the internal divisions which have led to “seminaries and convents closing and the liturgy being trivialized.” Certainly the media has played its part and played it well in mercilessly crucifying the Church, but most of what the media reports about the church was and continues to be generated by dissenting priests and theologians, many of whom had a direct hand in molding the documents of Vatican II. Also, if it is the case that the Catholic Church needs to depend on the media for its livelihood it might just as well abandon ship now for the media with its pro-world, pro-flesh, and pro-devil mandate, is not going away anytime soon.
No doubt these are troubling times and the future looks ominous indeed! Let us all pray that Pope Benedict XVI has in the end made the right decision!
*Paul Kokoski is a freelance writer who holds a BA in philosophy from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Canada His articles have been published in several journals including, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, New Oxford Review and Catholic Insight.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelb | Feb 20, 2013, 10:49 PM EST
Falconflash fails to condemn warlocks for viillifying the pope or is he selective!!
warlocks | Feb 20, 2013, 01:00 AM EST
Time for this Old Nazi to Hide from the world and ask God for forgiveness. this Guy stuck his head in the Sand while the Corrupt Pedophile Priests forced themself on the young children . nice Holy Men huh ! Holy My Arse ! may they all fry in Hell along with the Popes !
warlocks | Feb 20, 2013, 12:59 AM EST
you seem to not want the truth about the Corrupt Vatican & its Popes so why Ask what do i think !
warlocks | Feb 20, 2013, 12:55 AM EST
Time for this Old Nazi to Hide from the world and ask God for forgiveness. this Guy stuck his head in the Sand while the Corrupt Pedophile Priests forced themself on the young children . nice Holy Men huh ! Holy My Arse ! may they all fry in Hell along with the Popes !
seanomelb | Feb 19, 2013, 06:26 PM EST
I have not vilified the pope stupid I merely made an observation on current events in rome and if you do not like my take tough!
falconflash | Feb 19, 2013, 08:54 AM EST
If someone said the things Seanomelb says about fags instead of the Pope, he'd be crying hate speech...
mamaginnty | Feb 18, 2013, 08:52 PM EST
He will stay behind the vatican walls, which means he can not be questioned or arrested.
mamaginnty | Feb 18, 2013, 05:46 PM EST
What a load of Drivvel peter and Jesus on the appian way.The dilemma for Kokoski is! in a few weeks time there will be two popes. Now given that "God" speaks to us through the pope and the pope is infallible which pope will God speak through? The current situation belies the stupidity of "Infalliblity of the pope"(or popes). Makes one wonder about their illogical position in a meaningless universe.
SCVMalcolm | Feb 18, 2013, 04:19 PM EST
Methinks the Cross intercepted the real target of the lightening bolt. What about the Vatican banking scandal and the bit about Bennie's butler? The pops is corrpt!
SCVMalcolm | Feb 18, 2013, 04:16 PM EST
THAT announcement was the best news to come from the Vatican in years! Bennie is the single most anti-gay Pope in History! He tried to send his lawn-mowers into the American Convents to scare the Nuns and for the frist time the Church admitted that there was in fact gay priesrs, he tried to blame the gay priests as being the pedophile rapists! I'm glad to see this old bag go! Him the "Vicar of Christ", me arse!
WoundedKnee | Feb 18, 2013, 02:48 PM EST
Kokoski--with a name like that are you just a cheerleader for the Polish Pope?
Maureen15 | Feb 18, 2013, 02:28 PM EST
Read above and find out why Paul Kokoski should not have been allowed to write this article. Who are any of us to tell the Pope what he should do? I believe he is doing it for the best. God bless him!!
markday | Feb 18, 2013, 01:09 PM EST
this is the most goofy article that Irish Central has ever published. where do you dig up these so-called experts? wha
handsome68 | Feb 18, 2013, 12:41 PM EST
As for your headline, my suggestion is that he be tied down with sturdy ropes.
handsome68 | Feb 18, 2013, 12:34 PM EST
One is indeed free not to believe in God. I submit, however, that the vacuum must be filled with "something", and that much of the "something" can end up being destructive to the self and most likely to others. Left to themselves, genocidal serial killers like Josef Stalin, Chairman Mao, or Adolf Hitler, come to the height of power through whatever method(s) their particular culture values most at a particular time. For example, Stalin used fear and Hitler used a persuasive tongue. God must laugh when people say there is no god.
Silling | Feb 18, 2013, 11:00 AM EST
Voltaire maintained that the pursuit of liberty could not be achieved if religion was permitted to dominate the mind and hence during the 1789 revolution it was abolished. Catholicism in France never really came back and today a church wedding is not recognized by the state. The French instead adopted the state and family as a substitute for religion whereas, the Irish abandoned the state and thus the family (by mass emigration) but took to catholicism hook line and sinker. It is time for Ireland to get rid of the notion that there is a god.
pndirishandprou | Feb 18, 2013, 10:47 AM EST
If the conclave does not come up with a new liberal pope for the third millenium, a pope who puts everything on the table for discussion, including celibacy, female priests and birth control, the Catholic Church will only accelerate its journey toward total irrelevancy. The departure of Benedict XVI may actually be a godsend for most faithful.
pdm6288 | Feb 18, 2013, 10:31 AM EST
No confusion on my part about Benedict's decision and maybe God sent the lightening strike to remind us that He is in charge. Pope Benedict is not JPII and for many good reasons. Perhaps it was his time to turn the Church back away from some Vatican II decisions which may not have been best for the Church and while another Pope yet to be announced was being more fully formed. JPII's visible suffering served a purpose; Pope Benedict's path serves another. It would be a sad state of affairs if all the Popes were replicas of one another.
jim treacy | Feb 18, 2013, 10:01 AM EST
I DON'T BELEIVE THE POPE DECIDED ANYTHING REGARDING HIS RESIGNATION. THIS MAN HAS BEEN A DETRIMENT TO THE CHURCH AND GETTING OLD AND FRAIL WILL NOT ADD TO HIS VALUE.
mreinhar2001 | Feb 18, 2013, 09:41 AM EST
It is an interesting question, for sure, Mr. Kokoski. The lightning strike and later earthquake in Rome do see ominous, but it is not time to try to put meaning into those events. As you wrote, Benedict could canonically resign the papacy, but only if it is done so as his own free will. So, in my view, it is time to pray for the current pope, the future pope, and the People of God. Interesting and thought provoking article!
bbj3212 | Feb 18, 2013, 09:21 AM EST
Where does this guy get off! Benedict's decision to resign has not left me "confused and bewildered" as to where the Church is heading; I'm not sure I knew before as there have been so many surprising turns in both Benedict's and JP2's papacies. let's hope we get a pope who has pastoral experience af living with the people on the ground, the real Body of Christ. It is well to remember the Vatican is only a small part of the Church.
faberm1 | Feb 18, 2013, 08:58 AM EST
"Most likely only the pope will ever know for sure if he has chosen to follow the will of God or the will of man." Then why are you saying in this article what he should or shouldn't do?