#endofapontificate

® Ivan C. Navarro

Today another great pontificate ends. On this day another good Pope passes to the long history of the Church. This time, as we know well, the way this pontificate finishes is not due to death but to a prayerful choice that hadn't been made in centuries.

Pope Benedict XVI, who will no longer be Pope starting from tonight at 8pm Italian time, will remain as a Pope that has kept the recent tradition, seen in recent popes, of introducing pastoral practices for the benefit of the Church during a pontificate. These innovative practices do not violate Tradition but actually renew it. The legacy of doing papal acts that are new or original has been kept at least by the last five popes. Blessed John XXIII was the first pope in many centuries to have visited prisoners in jail and sick children in hospitals. The great Paul VI, servant of God, was the first Pope since St. Peter to travel  to the Holy Land in his first of various trips and also removed obsolete practices like wearing a tiara. These are just some few examples out many other historical actions taken by John XXIII and Paul VI. John Paul I, the smiling Pope, was the first Pope to have announced that God loves like a mother,  that God is also a mother which is originally proclaimed in the Old Testament. We all know the providential innovations of blessed John Paul II, which were countless. Here we can't ignore the first encyclical about social ethics written by Pope Leo XIII at the end of the 19th century. Unique decisions as the ones these men have made reveal a docility to the Holy Spirit. Such situations remind us of the radicality of using non-biblical words in the definitions of the first Ecumenical Councils in the 4th an 5th centuries.

Now, today, Pope Benedict leaves the papacy for the good of the Church as an answer to God's calling and by saying that the Church does not belong to the Pope, nor to all the Catholics, but belongs to Jesus Christ alone. This morning, of this most unusual day, the Pope is having a private audience with all the cardinals present in Rome, which are now more than 70, in order to say good-bye to each one of them. Some of us already watched some live footage of this moment on Italian TV. The news also said that the Pope has promised reverence towards his successor.

We are certain that the Holy Spirit is still acting in the world also through the papacy of the Catholic Church.