After the jubilee celebrations, many journalists wrote that it was also the end of his pontificate, that this Pope would not surprise us with anything. Due to the progressive disease, some even mentioned resigning…
If these journalists had analyzed the time between 2000 and 2005, they would have had to confess: mea culpa, because these years were also significant. They were full of drama, suffering because of everything that had happened in the world, starting with the attack on the World Trade Center, or within the Church itself – like the cases of pedophilia in the United States or the case of Archbishop Milingo. These years were also full of novelties and journeys: to the Middle East, to the Balkans, to Krakow, to entrust the world to divine Mercy all the way to the Urals. In addition, there was an encyclical on the Eucharist; there was progress in the process of evangelization, in dialogue with Orthodoxy.
As for the issue of resignation, I must admit that already before the Jubilee of the Year 2000, the Holy Father asked himself whether, by analogy with the rule that Paul VI established in the case of cardinals over eighty years of age, excluded from participation in the election of the Successor of Peter, the Pope was also in force to resign from office at the age of eighty, thus, as he wrote in his Testament, “is it not time to repeat with the biblical Simeon: Nunc dimittis.”
The Holy Father decided to consult with his closest collaborators, including Cardinal Ratzinger – Prefect of the Congregation for the Faith. After reading and analyzing the texts on the subject left by Paul VI, he came to the conclusion that it was necessary to submit to God’s will, and therefore to remain as long as the Lord desired. “God has called me, and God will call me down, in the form He wills.”
At the same time, John Paul II established an appropriate procedure for resigning in the event that he was unable to fully fulfill his ministry as Pope. As you can see, he took such a possibility into account. However, he wanted to do God’s will to the very end, accepting the cross, which he wanted to carry to the end of his days, following the example of Christ.
With the consent of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz – “Testimony”.
TBA marketing communication Publishing House. Warsaw 2007
