Pope Benedict XVI has announced his resignation, the first resignation in 600 years, as is often said. However the papal office is unlike monarchies, it is a position, and not reign. He is a working bishop, the Bishop of Rome. The past few hundred years of history have indicated otherwise, where an ailing pope is no longer able to perform his duties lingered on the throne as his duties were taken over by others. Perhaps the best legacy this pope may leave is the practice of abdicating.
Admittedly I am not a fan of Benedict XVI. During his tenure, he promoted Gregorian chants during mass. It was to create a more solemn atmosphere but also boring compared to the uplifting evangelical churches. Unfortunately he encouraged more Latin in music, which most of the congregation find it hard to follow (they were used to English hymns).
He rewrote the entire missal for non-Latin languages, which is the instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass. His intention is to bring all the vernacular language masses closer to the original Latin literation. He likes to think he’s making things holier for Catholics. In Europe he tried to fight the growing faithlessness, where atheism is a growing trend. I reckon those atheists will run further away from the church with the changes he has made, even if he is more twitter friendly.
On the more secular front, Benedict appears to me as a zealous conservative as opposed to his passive conservative predecessor. He is anti-science (opposed to embryonic stem cell research), he is a poor PR manager (the sex/rape scandals remain unresolved as many more cases get uncovered), opposed to contraception (a tool to prevent the spread of disease made out as a weapon against Christianity), cannot accept female priests etc.
Quite simply Pope Benedict is too conservative and antiquated for our times. And unfortunately since his successor will be picked out of a group of like-minded people, would likely be no different.
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