Denver Catholic

18 JUNE 11-24, 2016 | DENVER CATHOLIC Perspectives There aren't "two popes" in any way, shape, or form. L ife, even Catholic life, is full of ambiguities, but some things either are or aren't. It's a ball or a strike. It's a Toyota or a Ford. You're baptized or you aren't. The papacy would seem to be one of these you-are-or- you-aren't realities. According to the law of the Church, a man becomes pope the moment he accepts election (assuming he's a bishop; if not, he becomes pope after he's immediately ordained to the episcopate). A man ceases to be pope when he dies or when he abdicates the o¥ ce by a clear and free mani- festation of his will to do so. So there are never "two popes." Whatever else a "pope emeritus" may be, he is emphatically not "the pope." Ever since Pope Benedict XVI's abdication, there have been voices insisting that Pope Benedict didn't really mean to abdicate, or didn't do so canonically, or simply laid down the burden of governance while somehow remaining "pope," or some other such foolishness – and this despite Bene- dict's insistence that, yes, he meant to do exactly what he did. To date, these voices have been limited to the woolier fringes of Catholic commentary, where conspiracy theories abound; to aca- demics with too much time on their hands; and to columnists (chiefl y Ital- ian) with space to fi ll. A few weeks ago, however, this entirely unnecessary brouhaha was exacerbated by Bene- dict's longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, now the Prefect of the Papal Household. In a lecture in Rome, Gaenswein said (according to a report in the National Catholic Register) that Ben- edict had "left the papal throne" but had not "abandoned [the] ministry" he had accepted "in April 2005," such that, while there are not "two popes," there is "de facto" an "expanded" [Petrine] ministry – with an active member [i.e., Pope Francis] and a "contemplative member [i.e. Pope Emeritus Benedict]." That is why, Gaenswein continued, "Benedict XVI has not given up his name or the white cassock," and why "he has also not retired to a monastery in isolation but stays within the Vatican – as if he has taken only one step to the side to make room for his successor and a new stage in the history of the papacy." So, do we have one who is Simon and another who is Peter? No, we do not. The Petrine O¥ ce is not divisible in any fashion, nor can it be a dyarchy in which one exercises the mission of governance and another exercises a mission of prayer. The entire Church welcomes the prayers of Joseph Ratzinger, for the Body of Christ, for the world, and for Pope Francis. But these prayers do not constitute some sort of exten- sion of the Petrine ministry Benedict XVI laid down as of 8 p.m. Central European Time on February 28, 2013. These prayers are the prayers of a great and good man; they are not, since that date and time, the prayers of a pope or a kind of demi-pope. Archbishop Gaenswein's reference to title and vesture confi rms what many of us thought three years ago: the decisions about these matters made in 2013 were mistaken. Yes, the former bishop of a diocese is its "bishop emer- itus" while he lives, for he retains the indelible character of episcopal ordina- tion; but there is no such character to the Petrine o¥ ce. One either holds the O¥ ce of Peter or one doesn't. And it thoroughly muddies the waters to sug- gest that there is any proper analogy between a retired diocesan bishop and a pope who has abdicated. The former Benedict XVI ought to have reverted to being Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, or perhaps simply "Bishop Joseph." And with all respect to a man I esteem and who showed me many kindnesses over almost two decades, he ought not have kept even a modifi ed form of the vesture proper to a pope. In a world of images, the white cassock and zucchetto worn by the man who is no longer pope sends the wrong signal. A papal abdication, no matter what the circumstances, involves renouncing the O¥ ce of Peter, not reconce ptualizing it. No good end is served by suggestions that the Petrine ministry in our day has been redefi ned or expanded. The Catholic Di¨ erence George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. GEORGE WEIGEL Learning holiness from Mr. Sullivan A few weeks before Father's Day, the world lost one of its really great fathers. I fi rst met Mr. Daniel Sullivan through my friend Anne, the seventh of his eight children. She and I were taking a road trip through New England, and we stopped in Con- necticut where I met her glorious Irish family — presided over by a pipe-smoking Boston Irishman with a voice that landed somewhere between a growl and bark; whose gru exterior did little to conceal his obvious delight in his large and often noisy crew. Over the years, I visited The Sul- livan Clan as often as I could. Being the granddaughter of an Italian immigrant, I love nothing more than a good story from a good storyteller. And Mr. Sullivan was among the best — but with his own gravelly-voiced, pipe-smoking, tea-drinking fl air. Yes, tea. He was the only person I ever knew who made a simple cup of tea seem like the O¥ cial Drink of a Man's Man. Because that's what he was. I always knew Mr. Sullivan to be a devout Catholic. He attended Mass. He prayed the rosary. And he raised eight of the most faithful, impressive, delightful people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. But it wasn't until his fi nal illness that I realized the depths of the holi- ness that lay beneath that gru Irish exterior. His prayer life — from what have heard — was very simple. The Mass. The Magnifi cat. The Rosary. Lots and lots of rosaries. He became known as the "Rosary Man," and when people saw him walking around town, they would shout out "Pray one for me!" His mother had prayed a rosary each day for each of her fi ve children, and he was perpetually frustrated that he couldn't manage to say one each day for each of his eight chil- dren, and instead tended to max out at three. Three rosaries a day. I don't know what his prayer life looked like when he was younger, but I do know that in his fi nal years, he prayed those rosaries in addition to daily Mass, and an hour or more total spent with the Magnifi cat, in intercessory prayer (he kept an extensive list — and once you were on it, you were on it forever) and in personal conversation with God. I don't know about you, but I often struggle with prayer. I think I'm not Guest Column Bonacci is a syndicated columnist based in Denver and the author of We're On a Mission from God and Real Love. MARY BETH BONACCI Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. © L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO

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