The Sailor and the Wind

Superhuman challenges of navigation have always yielded remarkable epics and great novels. To name just three, “The Odyssey,” “The Old Man and the Sea,” and “Moby Dick.” Whether in fiction or reality, there is a constant: the success of the boat depends more on the wind than the sailors. This is the appropriate principle to have in mind when contemplating the current moment of the Church of Rome, as Pope Benedict XVI humbly assigns his own retirement.

Of course, even if only in passing, it is impossible to escape from this comparison to other historical figures who, once hoisted into a situation of power, have clung to it tooth and nail, even at the cost of revolutions and bloodshed. Some of these podestà even put in the work of establishing true dynasties, as we saw in North Korea and in some states of Arab cultures.

That’s not the way things are in the Church. The Bishop of Rome is a mere servant of the Catholic community. When Pope Paul VI sent his gold tiara to be sold and turned into charity work – a gesture repeated by John Paul II in 1980 by donating his gold ring to the Vidigal slum – it was clear that these pontiffs did not pose as all mighty and powerful. They knew very well that the power being exercised was not their own, and were kept at the service of Church and of humanity.

Returning to the top news at the moment, the unexpected resignation of the Pope tickles the curiosity (and mischief) of the entire media. If the Catholic Church were as well-known as Peter’s boat, if it were not habitually reduced to an international corporation, a society of religious professionals, the frisson would be more restrained. Just take a look at the list of recent popes (say, from Pius XII forward), to verify – no surprises – the remarkable diversity of temperaments and attitudes of these pontiffs, a diversity that has never prevented the bark from sailing ever in the direction that Christ outlined on the map of History. The Church’s heading does not depend on its human sailor, but on the one who blows upon his sails.

While seemingly solid human organizations shook and crumbled to the ground, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, the Catholic Church emerged unscathed from persecution, slander and the gulags. As such, it would not be the retirement of a Pope that could undermine the Church.

Naturally questions arise. What to expect from the new Pope? What will his “tradition” be. Now, be this new pope an African, a Latin American or coming from the American episcopate, the new Pope will follow the same path as always, opening windows to ecumenical issues, inciting the major powers to care for the poor and – above all – pointing to Jesus Christ as the only path for mankind.

If the Church were just any company, a new president would provoke concerns. As the Bark of Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Wind is much more important than the sailor…