“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived; it is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead”.
— Nelson Mandela
When Cardinal Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was elected the 265th Pope on 19 April 2005, he was the oldest person to be so elected since 1730, and had been a Cardinal for a longer period of time than any of his predecessors since 1724. The man who from 1981 had been prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) chose Benedict XVI as his papal name, which comes from the Latin word meaning “the blessed”.
The libertarian press named him God’s Rottweiler. His countrymen in Germany, especially the gay lobby, who were familiar with his work as a professor of Theology, sardonically described his election as the elevation of a German Shepherd to the papacy (a sick world describing a man of the cloth in ‘doggy’ terms)! A strict disciplinarian and highly regarded intellectual, his reputation preceded him, making commentators predict that his tenure would be marked by arc—conservatism and blind dogmatism.
His predecessor, John Paul II, was a tough act to follow, but Benedict XVI did make his mark. Granted that he did not have the charisma of John Paul II, he always exhibited a firm resolve to ensure that the highest moral standards attended governance issues in the church. As pope, one of his first actions was to demand the retirement of the Mexican priest, Rev. Marcial Maciel, on account of his history of sexual abuse of subordinates.
Maciel had seemed untouchable. The usual practice was that convicted priests would be removed from public life to devote themselves to penitence. Benedict read the riot act to everyone: Engage in criminal acts and go to jail!
Benedict also engaged in dialogue with groups outside of the Church, such as the schismatic Lefebvrians. He also developed a path for integrating married Anglican clergy into the Catholic Church. He reached out to leaders of other faiths, especially Muslims, to forge greater understanding and world peace. Many theologians, however, believe that his greatest contribution as Pope was his magisterium. According to scholars, his catecheses, encyclicals on central aspects of the faith, and biographies on Jesus of Nazareth could qualify him to one day be declared a doctor of the Church.
A polyglot, Pope Benedict, was fluent in his native German, Italian, French, English and Spanish. He also knew Portuguese, and the requisite Latin, Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Greek.
His resignation as Pope showed that the man was, first and foremost, a humble servant of God to whom position or the perks of office meant nothing. At his historic resignation, he declared: “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.
“I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter.”
World leaders spoke glowingly of him on his demise at the age of 95. One of the more perceptive tributes came from the Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar: “Leading the Catholic Church for almost a decade, the son of a police officer and a cook, the first German elected as pope in one thousand years, he was ultimately a ‘humble worker in vineyard of the Lord’.”
What can Nigeria learn from the life and death of Pope Benedict XVI?
At this time of political campaigns and a search for a more enduring federation, every Nigerian politician will do well to read the sermon delivered by the highly cerebral Monsignor John Aniagwu at the memorial Mass held in Lagos in honour of Pope Benedict.
“One lesson that I believe we can learn from Pope Benedict is knowing when to quit. Pope Benedict shocked everyone when he decided to resign from the Papacy. But he was just being honest; honest to God, to the Church, and to himself. He knew that his physical and emotional strength could no longer carry the burden of day-to-day running of the affairs of the Church. He did not want the Church to be adversely affected by his condition. He decided to quit the Papacy, something that no other Pope had done in 600 years.
“Many of us need to learn this all-important lesson from Pope Benedict. When your body and your mind tell you that you are no longer equal to the demands of a particular office, then, for goodness sake, let go. Don’t insist on occupying that office, whether you are equal to it or not. If you do, you are selfish. You don’t care about the people that you are supposed to be serving. You don’t love them. You only love yourself. And you will die loving yourself”, said Aniagwu.
The cleric continued, “I believe that our African political leaders, in particular, need to learn this lesson. They should stop imposing themselves on people when they themselves know and everyone else knows that they are physically, emotionally, intellectually and morally incapable of occupying an office… Public office is not your birthright. Nobody owes it to you. Get that into your head, and get out! Learn from Pope Benedict.”
Do we ever learn?
Benedict XVI, in compliance with the time honoured traditions of the papacy, was obliged to write his own spiritual testament at the dusk of his remarkable life. That tradition is meant to provide a compass for the living, like a voice from the grave. I commend Benedict’s testament to all those who believe that man was sent hither for a purpose.
He wrote: “If in this late hour of my life I look back at the decades I have been through, first I see how many reasons I have to give thanks. First and foremost I thank God himself, the giver of every good gift, who gave me life and guided me through various confusing times; always picking me up whenever I began to slip and always giving me again the light of his face. ..
“I thank my parents, who gave me life in a difficult time and who, at the cost of great sacrifice, with their love prepared for me a magnificent abode that, like clear light, illuminates all my days to this day. My father’s lucid faith taught us children to believe, and as a signpost it has always been steadfast in the midst of all my scientific acquisitions; the profound devotion and great goodness of my mother represent a legacy for which I can never give thanks enough. My sister has assisted me for decades selflessly and with affectionate care; my brother, with the lucidity of his judgments, his vigorous resolve and serenity of heart, has always paved the way for me…
“From my heart I thank God for the many friends, men and women, whom He has always placed at my side; for the collaborators in all the stages of my journey; for the teachers and students He has given me. I gratefully entrust them all to His goodness. And I want to thank the Lord for my beautiful homeland in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, in which I have always seen the splendour of the Creator Himself shining through….
“To all those whom I have wronged in any way, I heartily ask for forgiveness…
“It is now sixty years that I have been accompanying the journey of Theology, particularly of the Biblical Sciences, and with the succession of different generations I have seen theses that seemed unshakable collapse, proving to be mere hypotheses: the liberal generation (Harnack, Jülicher etc.), the existentialist generation (Bultmann etc.), the Marxist generation.
“Finally, I humbly ask: Pray for me, so that the Lord, despite all my sins and insufficiencies, welcomes me into the eternal dwellings.”
When the living mourn the dead, say our village elders, it is tomorrow’s corpse weeping for today’s cadaver. Rather than mourn, we give thanks.
Danke Papst Benedikt.
- Wole Olaoye is a Public Relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached at wole.olaoye@gmail.com, Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021
