The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI could deepen divisions at the top of the Catholic Church by both “removing a brake” from Pope Francis and emboldening his conservative critics to try to succeed him, analysts said today.
Giuseppe Rusconi, a leading Vatican journalist, said the death of Benedict, formerly Joseph Ratzinger, at the age of 95 would have consequences for his conservative followers and his more progressive successor.
“The conservatives have been weakened by Ratzinger’s death but they will now feel authorised to be more openly critical of Pope Francis, while Francis will no longer feel overshadowed by Pope Benedict and be free to cross new boundaries in his reforms,” Rusconi said. “A brake has been removed, both as regards the conservatives’ criticisms and the radical quality of Francis’ reforms.”
Benedict’s death could also clear the way for Francis, 86, to resign. Ratzinger’s momentous decision to step down broke a taboo that had lasted for six centuries.
Sandro Magister, another veteran Vatican observer, noted there was a void on the conservative wing of the church, and predicted a competitive “free for all” in the Vatican, with different agendas jostling for influence. Magister said Benedict’s continued presence in the Vatican after his retirement had acted as a check on Francis and his supporters. “[Now] there’s likely to be a free for all, without any clear guidelines. We are in a phase of confusion now, the opposite of the clear, limpid, rational thought of Pope Benedict,” he added.
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Of the 132 cardinals aged under 80, and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope, 83 were appointed by Francis. About a dozen cardinals, mainly senior conservatives, will also lose the right to vote this year.
Rusconi does not expect Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, to follow Ratzinger’s example any time soon. “He wants to continue his work of making the church more acceptable to the contemporary world, an operation not without risk,” he said. But he added that Ratzinger’s gesture in 2013 had “created a precedent” for retirement, which others might now follow. “It diminished the sacrality of the figure of the Pope, as it had been handed down through the centuries,” he said. “For a Catholic it’s not easy to accept the idea that the vicar of Christ on Earth can become a pensioner like any other office worker.”
Magister said Francis was unpredictable but was unlikely to resign soon. “His resignation is more practicable now, but I don’t see it as imminent,” he said. “His activism is remarkable for a man of his age. His diary is packed with engagements.”
Among the Pope’s commitments are visits to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan at the end of January, Portugal in August and a synod in Rome on the future of the church to be held in two parts, starting this October and concluding a year later. However, the Pope underwent a colon operation in July 2021 and has been largely confined to a wheelchair in recent months because of osteoarthritis in his knee.
Robert Mickens, the editor-in-chief of La Croix International, a Catholic newspaper, said he expected Francis to resign as early as this year, possibly after the October synod. Mickens said the Pope was having difficulty with unscripted speech, sometimes slipping into Spanish expressions and rambling. “He’s way overweight, which doesn’t help his knee problem,” he added.
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Tens of thousands of Catholics waited in line for hours to pay their last respects to Benedict, a sign of the popularity of the quiet theologian pope who died on Saturday. The Vatican said about 65,000 people filed past his body on the first day that it lay in state in St Peter’s Basilica, double the figure originally expected.
Mickens said there would be a gathering of ultra-conservative political leaders and representatives of European royalty at Benedict’s funeral on Thursday. “Ratzinger represents a Europe that is no longer or is slipping away. His funeral brings down the curtain on an era.”
Although Francis may have stacked the deck in favour of church liberals with his appointments to the college of cardinals, it was impossible to predict who might emerge as Pope from the next conclave, he said. “I know conservatives are working right now, trying to influence the succession. Bergoglio has opened a Pandora’s box with synodality [increased democratic debate] and conservatives are alarmed that it could result in radical changes that can’t be undone,” Mickens added.
