We were all initially surprised to hear about Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to resign, something not done by a pope since 1415. But then one looks back at the record of his papacy and the clues were there. For Jesuits, one clue stands out. Like the Pope, the Jesuit General Superior is elected for life. When our former General, Pedro Arrupe, asked Pope John Paul II if he could resign, because he was feeling the signs of growing ill health, the answer was a decisive no. Not long afterwards in 1981, Arrupe suffered a major stroke, and died in 1991. Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach succeeded him in 1983.

There were two years of difficult interregnum. In 2008 there took place a General Congregation (assembly of Jesuits from all over the world who have supreme authority in the Society when they are in session) and Fr. Kolvenbach, not quite 80, thought that though his health was still relatively good this would be the right time him to resign. Pope Benedict allowed him to do this. The transition was very smooth.

Two popes, two personalities, two ways of reading the will of God. And we cannot say that one was right and the other was wrong. Both were open to the Spirit`s guidance, which differs according to temperaments, circumstances, and needs. The two men were quite different: John Paul more extroverted, Benedict more introverted; John Paul more charismatic, Benedict more cautious; John Paul more pastoral, Benedict more scholarly; John Paul drawing the crowds to see him – we know that often his discourses were difficult to follow; Benedict drawing the crowds to hear him, because he is a clear and solid theological thinker and able to put his thoughts across to audiences of different kinds.

But they both gave the Church extraordinary leadership in spite of their limitations. Let us pray that the Spirit will inspire the cardinals to choose the right person for the situation of the Church today.

Popes are human beings like the rest of us. Often we put them on pedestals and we are disappointed when we find out that they fail to carry out perfectly the full scope of their crushing responsibilities. Like even the most qualified leaders the Lord puts on our path they have weaknesses as well as strengths. They make use of the former, and find the help they need to make up for the latter. And, more importantly, the Spirit makes use of them in ways that surpass their expectations and ours.

The cardinals might have a plan in electing someone pope: “we want a man of this type, with these skills, to deal with these priority issues”. The new pope himself might have an idea of what the main themes of his pontificate will be. But the winds of the Spirit over the Church, as they were over the formless and void of Genesis 1, are unexpected and creative, and the church will continue to be in good hands.

Reprinted with permission from www.jesuitspirit.ca Blog on February 15, 2013.