Editorial: The Pope’s resignation offers new opportunities

Pope Benedict XVI, 85, announced on Monday that he will resign at the end of the month, citing poor health. Many around the world were shocked by the announcement, because the papacy is traditionally held for life. Pope Benedict XVI is the first person to resign from the papacy since Pope Gregory XII, who resigned in 1415.

The Catholic Church is an undoubtedly influential body; it has more than 1 billion members worldwide, and its influence has shaped much of European history and inspired a great deal of art and literature. The pope, as the leader of the Catholic Church, wields a great deal of authority and has followers in all parts of the world.

According to an article in The New York Times, a likely successor will probably come from the following group of cardinals: Christoph Schonborn of Austria, Angelo Scola of Italy, Marc Ouellet of Canada, Francis Arinze of Nigeria, Peter Appiah Turkson of Ghana and Timothy Dolan of the United States. This diverse group of potential new popes follows a recent history of leaders from countries other than Italy: Pope John Paul II was Polish and Pope Benedict XVI is German.

When Benedict was chosen as pope, many hoped that his term would be progressive, in contrast to the rather conservative term of Pope John Paul II. While Pope Benedict XVI was progressive in embracing social media and doing outreach — like holding Mass for nearly 60,000 followers at Yankee Stadium and blessing Ground Zero — his decisions and statements about contraceptive use and other societal issues were firmly conservative.

Pope Benedict did justify the use of condoms in a very limited set of circumstances — like to help stop the spread of AIDS — though he also said that using condoms was not a “real or moral solution” to ending the AIDS epidemic. While this assertion was more liberal than that of previous popes, we hope that the next pope, as a leader who has followers all over the world, including many in countries that have been ravaged by AIDS, are more accepting of the use of condoms to prevent disease.

Another issue that the next pope must face is sexual abuse within the Church. Too often in the past, Church officials who committed sexual abuse were reassigned to different locations, instead of being sent to the police. Hopefully, the new pope will take a firmer stance on this issue.

The religious beliefs and practices of Pitt students cover a broad spectrum — many of us are not Catholic and are therefore not personally invested in the choice of a new Pope. Yet the choice of a new religious leader has implications for people all over the world — the Pope’s decisions, statements and actions concerning hot-button issues such as abortion, gay marriage, contraception and sexual abuse within the Church can affect the lives of more than a billion people.

Whether you identify as Catholic or not, pay attention to how the new pope goes forward with trying to integrate with modern secular society.