A singular coincidence

On 11 February 2013, the whole world was almost literally shaken by the news of Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement of his resignation. The Holy Father explained that his "strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry" and that he has had to recognize his "incapacity to adequately fulfill" it. Benedict XVI went on and said "that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is". And the whole world began to buzz: who is going to be the new Pope? Should Benedict XVI have had to resign? Could he not stay in the office until his death like all of his predecessors did for the past 600 years? His immediate predecessor, Blessed Pope John Paul II, did, having remained the Bishop of Rome until his death, although, as we later found out from his testament, closer to the end of his life, when he was becoming weaker physically, John Paul II did raise the question of whether he should have perhaps resigned from exercising the Petrine ministry… Nevertheless, he did not… for "Christ did not come down from the cross"… There is no doubt that Benedict XVI, through his declaration of resignation, was not trying to avoid the cross, for he knows perfectly well that the road to Heaven does lead through the cross. It was not even so much that the Holy Father exercised his legal right to renounce the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, in accordance with canon 332 of the Code of Canon Law, due to his incapacity to fulfill it adequately. It was above all, I am convinced, because he wanted to show to the whole world that the ministry of the Bishop of Rome is not about power, but is first and foremost about service. I do not know whether everyone picked it up, but Benedict XVI made the announcement about his resignation as the Bishop of Rome not just on any day, but on February 11th – the World Day of the Sick. Was it a coincidence? Not likely. There is however an event that happened a few years before that does seem to be a coincidence vis-a-vis Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation. Almost exactly two years before, on 10 February 2011, the Holy Father accepted the resignation of the then Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Lubomyr Cardinal Husar, Major Archbishop of Kyiv and Halych due to the latter’s incapacity to adequately fulfill it because of his failing eyesight. It probably would have not made the big news in Ukraine and in the Ukrainian diaspora had Lubomyr Husar been just a Bishop of an eparchy in Ukraine. However, he was not, hence, the Ukrainian community was taken by surprise, when it was announced in the Vatican on 10 February 2011 that the Holy Father accepted Cardinal Husar’s resignation as Major Archbishop of Kyiv and Halych of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Why? Because the Patriarch stays in the office for life and that’s what Lubomyr Husar de facto was – the Patriarch (not de iure, since the Holy See did not officially approve the status of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as patriarchal yet). That was at least what his latest predecessors did except for Archbishop Josyf Sembratovych, who resigned from the office in 1882. In any event, soon afterwards, on 23 March 2012, the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC elected the new Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, whose election was approved by Pope Benedict XVI on 25 March 2012. Since Cardinal Lubomyr Husar turns 80 on 26 February 2013 – two days short of the beginning of time, when the See of Rome becomes vacant until the election of the new Supreme Pontiff – he will not be able to participate during the upcoming conclave in the Eternal City. And neither will Marian Cardinal Jaworski, Archbishop-emeritus of Lviv of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, who is 86. This means that the only two Cardinals from the Church in Ukraine will have no say during the election of the new Supreme Pontiff in Rome. Time is to show, of course, who the next Pope is going to be. Nevertheless, we can be certain that the Holy Spirit continues to lead the Church on the salvific way to the House of our Father in Heaven and so there is no doubt that whoever gets elected by the Cardinals as the next Bishop of Rome will cooperate in the Holy Spirit’s lead of the flock of over 1 billion Catholics on this path. In the mean time, let us thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI as well as pray for the College of Cardinals, so that they may listen attentively to the voice of the Holy Spirit in electing new Peter of our times. (*) Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church