Why I am not Impressed with the Pope's Decision to resign.

When I was a senior in college there was a point I was very near to giving up on a project that I had invested years of my life in.  I had reached the end of my rope… or so I thought.  Thankfully a friend of mine told me in very harsh language to get it together and finish the job.  The end was so close and I was ready to throw it all away.  I needed that and I am thankful for what he did.  With the help of my my friends we all dug deeper than we thought we could and we pulled it off.  Sometimes the harsh truth is the only truth that gets people’s attention. 

The last couple of weeks I have been feeling very bothered by the Pope's decision to resign.  When I see the videos from the Vatican of people applauding the Pope's decision to resign cannot help but cringe.  When I hear people at Church speak of the resignation as a praiseworthy thing showing humility or courage I feel put off.  Quitting does not show courage in my book.  This is not like a surgeon who is getting Alzheimer disease deciding to quit because he literally cannot safely and competently do the job anymore.   Personally I do not think there is any virtue in this resignation.  I do not feel there is any humility here.  I am very skeptical of the idea that we need a "strong", “healthy," Pope.  This kind of thinking totally flies in the face of the spirit of Catholicism as far as I am concerned.  I do not feel it lines up with the culture of life.  The bible and Catholic tradition is all about God using weak people to accomplish great things.  Whether it be Abraham and Sarah, Sampson, Jonah, King David, the Apostles, St Therese etc, etc, etc.     I remember seeing a news interview from one of the Cardinals saying that anyone who had a problem with the Pope resigning or felt bad about it had a problem themselves.  You can take what I say with a grain of salt in light of those statements.  With that in mind I am saying right now I have a problem with it.  I think it flies in the face of the spirit of Catholicism.  Sure, I have no doubt that it is with in the "rule" of Church law that the Pope can resign.  But you know what.  Catholicism is bigger than a set of rules.  Sometimes that means relaxing the rules in order to be merciful.  But other times that means stepping up and going beyond what the rules call for to go the extra mile.  My question is whether or not resigning is within the spirit of law.  I contend that it is not.  Pope's have been going to their grave as Pope for 600 years.  I think and feel that this is a powerful witness and if the Pope resigns he is missing a powerfull opportunity.  The Catholic prayer is not to ask for end to suffering, it is to ask for the strength to endure and explore the mystery of suffering. 
The Catholic religion is from my point of view is very tribal.  We do not shy away from the hard aspects of life.  We have very hard fast rules.  Rules which the current Pope has spent his life upholding.  A lot of these rules require very extreme sacrifices and hardships to maintain.  We tell a lot of people that if they want to be in good standing with the Church they need to just pick up their cross and walk.  Here are a few examples.  We tell couples they must be open to life and not use contraception.  Children are hard to raise.  They consume a lot of financial resources and drastically change a person’s life.  Alternatively they can use natural family planning, which has a wide variety of problems and hardships of its own.  Living the Catholic Faith calls for this though.  How about the family that is open to life and as a result has many children and lives near poverty because work is hard to find.  Take up your cross and walk…  What about the person who is in a marriage that has no sense of excitement or passion or emotional love?  We tell them to suck it about and live it out.  They are not permitted to divorce and remarry. They must take up their cross and walk.  What about the person facing terminal cancer who would prefer to avoid the suffering and just be euthanized.  We say no, you cannot do that.  Live your suffering and grow from it.  What about the untold number of single Catholics who want to be married but cannot find a spouse who actually practices the Faith and is actually enjoyable for them to be around.  They just have to live with it, our society is a rough one to live in for Catholics.  Go evangelize the culture if you do  not like it.  How about the women who is pregnant and finds out she has a high probability of dying if she follows through with the pregnancy.  We tell her she might have to die because she cannot have an abortion (I am aware of double effect issues.  That is not what I am referring to here).  What about her children that will be left motherless as a result.  They just have to live without a mother- sorry.  Let’s take a step back.  What about the couple where the wife knows she could experience significant medical problems if she gets pregnant.  That couple may have to nearly totally abstain from marital relations.  They are told they are just called to live their Faith this way.  How about a nurse who has to quit her job because she cannot in good conscience participate in the abortions she is being asked to take part in.  Same goes for the medical student or pharmacist or therapist who is facing persecution and or job loss for their faith.  How about a person who feels attraction to someone of the same sex?  They may never have any opportunity to experience what the Catholic church would consider legitimate intimacy.  These people often did not choose these crosses in any way.  They just have to live with them.  Take up your cross and walk…  There are a wide array of ways the Catholic Faith can make a person’s life significantly harder.  In the cases I outlined above people do not get a chance to call for a time out.  They do not get a chance to resign.  Resignation in these cases means a person typically has to die to themselves, or in some cases they actually literally have to die.  The Pope has spent his life enforcing these teachings that are not easy to follow.  Unlike many of these people he did have a choice.  He did not have to accept the job of Pope.  He was an insider.  He knew what he was getting into.  He could have declined and I would say that is totally legitimate.  He chose to take the job.  The Pope asked for kindness.  Fine – I am fine with that.  But I feel he needs the same kindness we extend to people in all these tough situations.  Sometimes tough love is called for.  

To be honest I just feel upset and disappointed at the Pope.  I do not want to see him go through with this resignation.  I can think of a whole variety of reasons why my feelings may be wrong, but it doesn’t change what my feelings are.  Catholicism is tough.  The Pope knows it, this is not his first rodeo.  He is no rookie.  It can be very nasty sometime and can call for major sacrifices.  I feel like the Pope in many ways could talk the talk but now when he has a chance to walk the walk he is not doing it.  Sure it may be permissible, but I do not see anything heroic or virtuous in it.  I am not impressed.  If I were in his situation I would hope I would have a friend there to tell me the harsh truth – “get it together, people get old, and sick and sometimes they go crazy,  deal with it…  Popes have been doing it for 600 years.  Get back to work and finish the job!!!!”  Real humility to me would be the Pope saying, “Look I screwed up, I got tired and scared, please forgive me and I will get back to work.  I may only be able to do so much but living and dying in the Catholic style is the witness and that is what I will live out.”  That would be fine with me.  I am not unreasonable.  I am not asking that he be at his desk every day.  He may be able to do only very little.  Truthfully he may not be able to get out of bed.  That is fine.  Dying is a part of life.  Please Pope Benedict, get back to work.  Do not give up!  We will support you.  Leadership in weakness can be the most powerful witness.

I want to end with one last thought.  I started with a discussion of how my friend gave me a hard time about giving up.  Well we did not give up but things looked really dim.  We pressed on though.  In the end there was no way on our own efforts we could succeed.   We literally were working until we passed out.  Well If I have ever seen a miracle in my life this was it.  There was no way we should have suceeded.  Everything was put together way too shakily at the last minute.  We the time of testing came though it pulled through.  I firmly belive we gave our all and it was not good enough.  But God picked up where we no longer could on our own power.  This is where Faith comes in.  It didn't make sense.  It was beyond reason, but God in the end did pull his weight.  If we only really on our own strengths what do we really believe?