When the Catholic cardinals gathered in conclave to select a new Pope last March, one of the most fascinating aspects was that they were not doing so having recently buried the last one.
Instead, the previous Pontiff, Benedict XVI, was very much alive, having retreated to begin a new life at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican, furnished with a new title: Pope Emeritus. (Strictly speaking he didn’t retire straight to the monastery – instead he spent his first few months off the job at the Papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo while his new home was renovated.)
There was much talk at the time about the unprecedented nature of Benedict’s resignation. It was only the first time it had happened for certain (details are often sketchy when dealing with a 2,000-year-old institution), and the first time since Gregory XII had stepped down in 1415 to end the Western Schism.
It also marked the first time since that Schism that the world would have two living Popes, thereby raising an intriguing question: would Benedict now take a vow of public silence in order to avoid undermining his successor (there was mention that he would live a “monastic life”), or would the Catholic Church be a house divided, with two rival figureheads sniping at one another in a revival of the schismatic days of Popes and Antipopes?
While the answer did not, of course, prove to be the latter, we now also know that it did not prove to be the former. This week, in a rather impressive scoop, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica published extracts of a letter sent by the Pope Emeritus to the prominent mathematician and atheist Piergiorgio Odifreddi, intended as a reply to Odifreddi’s critical 2011 book Dear Pope, I’m Writing to You.
While the letter is not exactly dynamite – as far as we know there’s no mention, let alone any criticism, of his successor Francis – it does contain some significant material, in particular his response to accusations that he helped to cover up acts of child abuse by Church officials.
In his first ever public denial of involvement in the concealment of sexual abuse in the Church, Benedict writes that he “never tried to cover these things up”, and says that the Church must "do everything possible so that such cases never repeat themselves”. He also argues that while there "is no reason to find solace in the fact that, according to research by sociologists, the percentage of priests guilty of these crimes is no higher than those present in other similar professional fields", people should not "ostensibly present this deviation as if it were filth pertaining only to Catholicism".
Elsewhere in the letter, Benedict also engages Odifreddi on the relationship between religion and science, and in the process provides a juicy quote for those keen to play up the struggle between religion and the world’s best known atheist scientist. Responding to Odifreddi’s belief that theology, including the writings of the former Ponfiff himself, is nothing but "science fiction” unworthy of “detailed discussion”, Benedict says that the same could be said of works of science, adding that “The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a classic example of science fiction”.
It’s hard to know what to make of the Pope Emeritus breaking his seven-month silence. Can we expect more public pronouncements, or is the letter to Odifreddi a one-off occurrence? Perhaps most crucially, should Benedict XVI even be speaking publicly at all? There’s no indication that Pope Francis has a problem with his former boss speaking out, but it can’t be easy being the first man in the top job for six centuries to have a living predecessor, let alone one who lives down the road. Benedict’s resignation may have been unprecedented, but it will set precedents for how such events will be handled in the future, and you have to imagine that the Church would prefer if the departed Pope keeps his views to himself.
For outsiders, however, particularly those wishing to know more about what went on during Benedict’s time as the Bishop of Rome, any public statements are bound to be a source of fascination. We look forward to seeing whether the Pope Emeritus chooses to speak out some more.
