Open Letter to Papa Benedict

[Denise]

I don't know if it was very smart to release this letter. I hope papa doesn't end up dead so he can't talk.

Read this open letter to Benedict XVI

[Johnna]

I suspect that if he was going to talk, he already would have.

[KarlB]

Your renunciation of the papal throne five years ago left us, your spiritual children, deeply confused. Many of us have struggled to understand why, after a life of faithful service to the Church and a pontificate during which Your Holiness did so much to revive the life of the Faith, you would leave us before the Lord had called you home.

In fairness this deeply engrained confusion has been with us for decades and was bound to manifest itself in one way or another regardless of PapaB's retirement. It's a poison that has to hatch out.

As i've said before i think the Holy Father is appointed for Life. I understand the enormous burdens the modern Pontificate puts on an aged and ailing man. But there are ways to moderate those burdens by management through delegation, exception, prioritization.

I'm sure many Popes in the Middle Ages simply let the immense momentum of the Church carry it forward while they became somewhat reclusive, reflective and focussed on the succession rather the administration of the Church.

I think the case of Benedict might dissuade future holders of the Office from considering it something that would be better handled by a younger more vigorous man. That simply disrupts the natural rhythm of the Pontificate.