While it is true that Pope Benedict XVI had already said he would eventually step down, it was still considered a far-fetched scenario. To have the modern era's most conservative pope do what only Pope Gregory XII did in 1415 and what Pope Celestine V, who served from July to December 1294, did after being convinced to resign by his successor, was unlikely. Pope Benedict's short tenure (2005-2013) was engulfed in scandal, which is precisely why he should have held on to the job, so as to debunk the litany of rumors that may now hurt the church. But, in a rare move, he decided to abdicate, and ironically, may have revolutionized the Catholic Church in an unprecedented way. He humanized the Holy See, effectively outdoing his immediate predecessor, Pope John Paul II. The pope may be flesh and blood, but he is no ordinary person. Catholics believe that he is God's representative on earth. Can God quit? No, and neither can the pope. Pope Benedict told the cardinals on Monday that he was too tired to continue. But isn't suffering part and parcel of Christianity? Has anyone forgotten how the church elaborated on Pope John Paul's long decline to suggest that he was taking it upon himself to suffer on behalf of the believers. It's ironic that this pope, who was an opponent of any sort of reform to the church and who used to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition) was the pope who ultimately shook the foundations of the Holy See by taking this unusual step. The pope, 85, said he was exhausted, but the large number of scandals coming out of the Vatican over the past few years cast doubt on his motives. Last year, his butler was arrested over the so-called Vatileaks affair, which exposed alleged corruption in the Vatican. There was also the controversial book, "His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI," written by the Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi. It detailed the alleged pedophilia that had been taking place inside the church and exposed severe financial improprieties, with particularly damning allegations against Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone (often described as the "prime minister" of the Vatican). The pope, who was known as Joseph Ratzinger in his native Germany and who donned a Wehrmacht uniform during World War II, came under fire in 2006 when he sounded criticism over the Prophet Muhammad's alleged violent means of spreading Islam. He also antagonized Jews by sanctioning a controversial part of the Latin Mass (also known as the Tridentine rite), which calls on Jews to convert, and by reinstating four bishops from the Society of St. Pius X who had been excommunicated by the church, including one Holocaust denier. He also managed to anger many Catholic communities by making controversial statements on AIDS, by rejecting abortions and through his opposition to the use of condoms. His views on same-sex partnerships were also very clear. If he were a politician, he would have most likely been considered a neoconservative. But by voluntarily leaving the papacy he becomes a revolutionary like those who have historically emerged from Latin America. Speaking of which, his move generated shock waves all across that region. In Mexico on Monday, the believers could be seen crying. Many Catholics may feel they have been orphaned from God until a new pope is elected. Considering the current state of affairs inside the church, it would serve justice to have a pope emerge from that part of the world, where the cross spared no means in its pursuit of its mission. The pope cited the "rapid changes" in this world as one of the reasons for departing. He may have wanted to remind us that haste makes waste. Alas, it may have been modernity that caused this conservative pontiff to buckle.
