A pope resigns - Benedict put belief before Church unity

Pope Benedict’s last general audience, in Rome yesterday, was an emotional, but nevertheless joyous, affair.

His decision to resign, the first by a pontiff in 600 years, was celebrated for all the right reasons by 150,000 people in St Peter’s Square.

His abdication is seen by some as an opportunity for the Catholic Church to meet the contemporary world on a more direct, a more inclusive and democratic footing. For others it is the very moment to mark Benedict’s legacy by honouring and preserving the doctrines he considered immutable, doctrines he believed beyond the reach of social evolution.

The ideas around how the Church might undertake that never-ending, Herculean task — or even if it will — are as varied and conflicted as its membership but when Benedict abdicates tonight battle lines already drawn will become even more pronounced. The process to identify his successor will move to a new level, to a new defining intensity.

It would be surprising if that discussion went as far as considering a successor who might hold beliefs radically or even, if the truth be told, moderately more liberal than Benedict’s or the cardinals appointed by him or his predecessor John Paul II — the very men who will elect the next pope.

As this drama unfolds conservative voices will insist that certain issues cannot even be discussed because they are permanent truths rather than evolving guidelines. Others, especially those disenchanted by the Church’s attitude to women, homosexuality, contraception, abortion and all of the wearying but undeniable scandals around child sexual abuse and ensuing Church cover-ups, will continue the struggle to accommodate religious and social beliefs very often in conflict.

The Pope acknowledged this dilemma yesterday when he said his papacy included moments of joy but also difficulty when, “it seemed like the Lord was sleeping”.

And what is Benedict’s legacy? If it can be judged for a moment without the conflicting perspectives of conservatism or modernism there is much to celebrate and acknowledge as wise and often profound.

His consistent warnings about the failings of materialism are far more radical and challenging than assessments offered by the great majority of the world’s politicians. These warnings ring true because they are informed by ideas of justice and dignity that would strengthen any society.

The unease he repeatedly expressed about the primacy of the individual and the needs and assumed rights of individuals are not hard to identify with in a society where the common good is all too often a secondary consideration. His warnings about environmental degradation cannot be ignored either as the evidence all around us proves.

When Benedict leaves Rome tonight he will be the first pope to do so in many centuries without a funeral and, equally, the first to ask those he leaves behind to pray for the next pope. Despite that radical, selfless departure his pontificate will be remembered as one of polarisation and division. How else could it be when someone of such strong beliefs chooses to live by them?

He may not celebrate the fact that others will do the same but conclude that they must lead very different lives. He, however, would surely understand it because no institution has an absolute franchise for the pursuit of love and goodness.