Knowing when

On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI mentioned during a routine Vatican ceremony that he had made  “a decision of great importance for the life of the church.”

Saying that he had he had “repeatedly examined my conscience before God," the then-85-year old German-born theologian went on to say that the modern world,  “subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith,” called for a pope who was in better condition. He concluded with this: “My strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited” to the papacy.

This was the first time in 600 years that a pope had retired.  And from that day in 2013, Pope Emeritus Benedict lived until this past New Year's Eve, in his own space, at his own pace, at the Vatican.

As a Protestant, I don't have a nickel in the internal struggles of the Catholic church, nor can I pretend to understand that church and how it works. As an outsider, all I can say is, why was it a big deal that he retired?

The Washington Post described Benedict an "intellectual giant and rock of moral certitude who had spent a lifetime defending the faith from outside forces." I know that he was born in the 1920s and became a priest in 1951. So he served his God and his church actively from 1951 until 2013...62 years! I happen to think he deserved to step aside, if that's how he felt.

I know retirement is not for everyone. US Senator Charles Grassley from Iowa, elected to the Senate in 1980, was just elected to an eighth term at the tender age of 89. Listen, if he wants to keep working - he already filed to run again in 2028 - that's his business, and, of course, that of the voters in Iowa.

I thought the Pope did a wise thing by stepping down when the thought the time was right. What I will never understand is why so many people thought it was all right to tell an 85-year-old man to just keep on working. 

Many people look at work as their sole reason for living. Those of us who enjoy pursuits beyond the bounds of time clocks, memos, meetings, and asinine rules are happy to set our own agendas.