Peggy Noonan
It is disquieting, the resignation of the pope. "We are in uncharted territory," said a historian of the church. An old pope is leaving but staying within the walls of the Vatican, and a new one, younger and less known, will come before Easter.
In a week's conversation with faithful and believing Catholics, I detected something I've never quite heard before, and that is a deep, unshaken, even cheerful faith accompanied by a certain anxiety, even foreboding. I heard acceptance of Pope Benedict's decision coupled with an intense sympathy for what is broadly understood to be his suffering, from health problems to the necessity that his decision was a lonely one, its deepest reasoning known only to him.
Reuters
There was a lot of speculation that attempting to run the Vatican in the new age of technology, of leaks and indiscretions and instant responses, would have been hard on him.
So here are some things Catholics have been telling me.
From a Catholic journalist: "I trust Papa to know that he is doing the right thing, and the best thing, for the church. She is his whole life and nothing he has ever done has been but for her good. That said, you know that saying, 'It's going to get worse before it gets better'? That's pretty much where I am about it. I think there is going to be a great deal of intrigue" in the conclave. She thinks some see it as the "last, best chance to try to 'correct' the 'misguided' trajectories of John Paul II and Benedict the 16th, and I think that is the practical reason Benedict is doing this now — he is a mystic but a very practical, clear-eyed one. He knows that he has more sway over the conclave alive than dead."
He would have been deliberate about the timing of his announcement, just before Lent, which "has helped to intently focus us on our prayer for the church at a time when she needs our focused prayer, fasting and sacrifice. It's a little chilling to consider that he may feel the church needs all three at this moment. The whole world is always watching a conclave but this time it may be watching more closely, with eyes that are both interested and on the lookout for wolves. But ultimately, I am willing to be optimistic. I tend to take the long view on these things, because I know God's hand is always at work in everything, and that all things work for our good — in His time, though, not in ours, which is the thing that gets us unnerved."
From a parish priest in New York City: "The resignation was truly shocking, and hard to imagine. People are concerned about the successor. They're asking, What does it mean for the papacy? Will future popes be pressured to leave? Is it a sign of the technological thing that wears people out?"
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