The unrealized opportunity opened up by Benedict XVI’s resignation

It has been seven years since Benedict XVI declared his plans to resign from the papacy. 

His announcement on Feb. 11, 2013 stunned pundits and ordinary Catholics alike. It was hard to believe that abdicating the highest office in the Church was really possible (even though it happened before in the distant past). 

Future generations may view Benedict’s act of humility as his most important contribution to ecclesiology. 

At the time he stepped down, it seemed that he placed the good of the Church over that of himself. His resignation had the potential to bring the papacy down from its “pyramid-like isolation” and situate it within the church where is its proper place. 

Had Benedict remained faithful to his self-imposed silence, he may have gained some respect from those who perceived his long ecclesiastical career as stifling of God’s Spirit. 

But as we know, he has not remained on top of the mountain in prayer. Instead, he keeps coming down, seemingly unable to let go of whatever influence he still has on the direction that the Church should take.

While this sad state of affairs has made things difficult for Benedict’s successor, it is important not to lose sight of the larger picture, namely, that Benedict’s resignation opened a space for Catholics to rethink how they understand themselves as Church. 

Unfortunately, that opportunity remains largely unrealized.

Benedict’s renouncing of the Petrine office could be viewed as a statement about what the Church is and what it is not. It could be read as saying that the Church is not the pope and the pope is not the Church.  

After centuries of centralization of power in the papacy and inflating of the Petrine office, Benedict’s stepping down could be seen as an invitation to the whole Church – the laity and the hierarchy – to assume their responsibilities for what the Church becomes and for the difference it is supposed to make in the world. 

This opportunity to renew and reform the Church is real, especially since it has a strong advocate in Benedict’s successor, Pope Francis. 

From day one of his pontificate, Francis has been inviting his fellow bishops to be genuine pastors, and not always wait for Rome to tell them what to do. In this, and in many other ways, Francis has been releasing the bold vision of Vatican II from captivity, as one theologian put it aptly.

Francis’ desire that the Church become truly a synodal institution is his most important initiative, actualizing the idea that the Church is not the pope and vice versa. 

During the first seven years of his pontificate, he has already convoked four synodal gatherings and, in contrast to his predecessors, tried to make them real assemblies. 

It seems clear that for Francis it is of utmost importance that the whole Church take part in the process of discernment guiding it in its mission to give witness to the Gospel. This is the responsibility not only of the pope and the bishops but also of everyone in the Church.

Synodality, as Francis has been promoting it, brings to the fore several key elements of Vatican II’s ecclesiology. It emphasizes that being a Christian is rooted in the baptismal call and that all the baptized ought to see themselves as agents of the Church’s mission. 

Synodality promotes the idea of a dialogical Church, since synodality is essentially a process of mutual listening and learning that should take place at every level in the Church. 

In this way, synodality also affirms the full theological reality of the local Church. It invites churches in their particular circumstances to discern the signs of the times and address them in light of the Gospel

Unfortunately, only a few individual bishops and bishops’ conferences have followed Francis in promoting synodality within the sphere of their pastoral charge. 

Perhaps most bishops are more comfortable to exercise their ministry from the perspective of the Church as a pyramid, on top of which they reside. Very little dialogue and consultation is needed. 

They may see synodality as a dreadful vision of the Church that is governed by a committee for which they have no use, as one critic of synodality recently noted. 

Some bishops may be most comfortable executing a directive that comes to them from above, but they may be less prepared to exercise creative, Spirit-discerning leadership. 

Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego stands out as an exception in this. 

In the fall of 2016, he held a diocesan synod on the implementation of key pastoral insights of Pope Francis’ exhortation “The Joy of Love” (Amoris Laetitia). Since then, he has become the foremost promoter of synodality in the United States. 

Recently McElroy argued that to move forward from the crises it currently experiences, the Catholic Church in the United States “should embrace the type of synodal pathway” used by the Church in the Amazon region.

So far, the boldest and most systematic action toward responsibility for its future comes from the Church in Germany. There the Catholic Church embarked on a two-year synodal path. The process began last December, and for the next two years delegates from among the bishops, priests, religious, and the laity will engage in dialogue. 

There are four main topics: power in the church, priestly celibacy, the place of women, and sexuality. As one can imagine, some conservatives are raising alarms, warning of schism and further demise of the Church in Germany. 

One thing is certain, however. If genuine synodality takes place, there will be changes – likely very significant – in Catholic self-understanding and practice.

Seven years later, the opportunity for the Church that opened with Benedict XVI’s resignation remains largely unrealized. It is not evident what Pope Francis can do to communicate more clearly to fellow bishops his openness to shared governance. 

The need for Spirit-filled leadership is dire. The whole Church needs to be engaged in its reform and renewal so that it can witness before the world God’s saving love.

Martin Madar teaches theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.