Posted 10:54 pm Saturday, February 16, 2013
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Pontiff's decision creates questions
In case you missed the news this week, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation on Monday.
If you haven't heard that news, I'm going to pause here to let you recover from that shock. That's been the general reaction all week.
The last time a pope resigned was more than 600 years ago.
"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry," reads his written statement.
His resignation will take effect Feb. 28, and Catholic leaders expect to have a new pope by Easter, March 31.
What's been especially interesting has been the wide variety of reactions, from inside and outside the Catholic Church.
Various news outlets have been dissecting how Benedict alienated a lot of people, of different faiths and his own. Many are also angered about how he handled the sex abuse cases that have been reported for more than a decade.
Others aren't sure about the theology of the move. Can a pope, who Catholics believe is chosen by God, simply quit the office that's usually held for life? What does that say?
A few are speculating that Benedict is being pushed out by other high-ranking church officials.
Most faithful Catholics however, including ones here in East Texas, are calling the move noble and courageous; something they say clearly indicates his love for the church.
There are times when we should call others out for their obvious moral failures. We know when those are. Until (and if) more is known, the act of resignation alone doesn't seem like one of those times.
In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, Jesus gives one of his most haunting teachings.
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
As for me, I'm much less concerned about having an opinion on the matter as I am concerned about being judged in the same way that I judge others.
As for me, I'm much less concerned about having an opinion on the matter as I am concerned about being judged in the same way that I judge others.
