The papal office

JUST a few days ago, a nasty rumor jammed cell phones all over the place saying the good old Pope John Paul II had just died. The praying of the rosary as some kind of suffrage for his soul was organized at a certain time of that day.

I myself was dragged into it as I had to ask confirmation from Rome and later to clarify the matter to so many people. It was actually an unnecessary, and yes, tedious, task, but I felt it was still one that needed to be done.

The Pope is getting old and is sick. That's quite clear to all. While concern for his health and capacity to work is understandable, let's not forget that the papal office has to be seen more under the light of faith than under just some human considerations.

Not that these human considerations are not important. They are very important! Still the indications of faith have far more weight, and they actually guide how these human considerations are to be made.

Otherwise, we will just get into an endless labyrinth of arguments that will always end in some cul-de-sac. Nothing can be definitely resolved, if reason is the only faculty used and the gift of faith is sidelined.

As such, we have to look at the papal office not just like any other earthly office. Much less is it just a job to be done, with a specified term to be served, and conditions to be followed.

The papal office is divinely instituted, with its nature, functions and ways of exercising it divinely designed as received, understood and practiced by the apostles.

The human laws can only reinforce its divine character, but never contradict it. It is the office that links us, and this natural world to the supernatural world of faith. Without it, we sort of are just left hanging in space.

The papal office refers more to a specific person who has been vested with "full, supreme and universal power over the whole church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered." (Catechism 882)

It's true that any office or earthly authority involves a distinction between the person occupying that office and the responsibilities inherent to that office. They are not one and the same thing.

And this distinction serves a very practical purpose, because we know that persons occupying certain offices can commit grave mistakes or can become irrelevant as when they lose support of the people or the confidence of their superiors.

These persons can be evaluated, retained or removed in accordance to a certain way that is legal or at least agreed upon by a wide consensus.

Still we always try to have a person most appropriate to carry out that office. In other words, we tend to look for someone who is so identified with his office that the person himself and the office he exercises become one.

This is especially true in the case of the papal office, since it is the highest authority there is in this world. And this identity between the person and the office is implied when our Lord said to Peter, "Whatever you bind here on earth is bound in heaven, whatever you loose here on Earth is loosed in heaven."

In short, the Pope may be incapacitated but he continues to be Pope. Resignation is out of the question, because to whom shall he submit his letter of resignation? And who has the authority to approve that resignation?

Do you think the Pope can just submit his letter of resignation to his own self?

In the Catholic Church there is no other authority higher than the Pope. Not even the College of Bishops, of which the Pope is head, and which cannot function unless called upon by the Pope or at least allowed to do something by him.

At most, what the Pope can do is to delegate part of his functions to some people. But he cannot resign. As long as he is alive he continues to be Pope, and no one else can be Pope.

These characteristics of the papal office, as I said, can only be understood better if viewed with faith. We are asked to make adjustments in the way we think and understand things in accordance to this indication of faith.

And we can always do that. If we put our mind, will and heart to it, we can always do it.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Pope John Paul II's pontificate, perhaps this understanding of his office plus intensifying the corresponding filial devotion that goes with it, can be our best gift to him.

Let's not kill him. Our Lord knows what to do with him, and with us. Just have faith, and pray!