De varias maneras, el dramático paso de Benedicto es único, aunque no por completo sin precedentes. Podemos identificar claramente siete abdicaciones anteriores del papado. Dos son resultado de los ataques romanos a la iglesia primitiva. El Papa Ponciano (230-235) fue detenido en la persecución del emperador Maximino el Tracio y condenado a las minas de Cerdeña (a donde la gente iba pero de donde no regresaba). En vez de dejar a la iglesia en una situación en la que un papa a cargo fuera encarcelado prácticamente de por vida, renunció antes de partir hacia las minas. El Papa Marcelino (296-304), por el contrario, se descalificó a sí mismo al entregar las escrituras a las autoridades romanas y quemar incienso a los dioses, ambas acciones imperdonables.
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PAPA Gregorio XII. |
Tres dejaron el cargo por razones relacionadas con la política secular, de la iglesia, o ambas. El Papa Silverio (536-537) fue exiliado por la emperatriz Teodora de Constantinopla, restaurado por el emperador Justiniano, y forzado a salir de nuevo por su sucesor, el papa Vigilio. Celestino V (1294) renunció porque no pudo tolerar regir como Papa bajo la presión del rey Carlos II de Sicilia. El Papa Gregorio XII (1406-1417) mandó durante el período conocido como el Cisma de Occidente, cuando nada menos que tres hombres estaban reclamando el papado. Cuando el Concilio de Constanza fue planeado para resolver el problema, Gregorio acordó acatar la decisión del consejo, siempre que pudiera convocarlo, con lo que se estableció como papa legítimo el tiempo suficiente para poder renunciar y dejar que el Consejo eligiera a Martín V como líder de la iglesia.
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PAPA Benedicto IX, (c. 1012–c. 1056). |
Otra salida papal, la de Benedicto IX (siglo 11), se produjo a causa de su escandalosa vida personal, incluyendo el hecho de que vendió la oficina papal a un familiar. Fue elegido y depuesto, y volvió tres veces más antes de que finalmente se fuera para siempre.
Por último, no se sabe mucho del mandato del Papa Juan XVIII (1003-1009), más allá de algunas de sus decisiones oficiales, pero al parecer renunció y vivió sus últimos años en un monasterio (¿suena familiar?).
Así que la renuncia de Benedicto XVI no es totalmente un hecho inédito, en cuanto a que algunos de los papas anteriores que dejaron el cargo lo hicieron por voluntad propia, ya sea por razones personales o por el bien de la iglesia. Sin embargo, es dramático, ya que no ha sucedido en mucho tiempo, y la iglesia de las últimas décadas no está acostumbrada a rápidos remplazos papales sucesivos. Hay que tener en cuenta que el papado de más de 26 años del predecesor de Benedicto, Juan Pablo II, fue el segundo más largo en la historia. La duración del pontificado de Benedicto XVI, de cerca de 8 años, en realidad está muy cerca de la media de la duración del papado de los 265 papas anteriores –de un poco más de 7 años- , y no muy lejos del término medio papal de 10 años, desde el siglo 16.
La extraordinaria decisión de Benedicto XVI también ha llamado la atención sobre el influyente, aunque a veces poco conocido, cuerpo de la ley canónica que en definitiva gobierna casi todo lo que sucede en la iglesia, incluyendo una renuncia papal.
Antes del siglo 20, el derecho canónico existía en varias formas y colecciones. No se compiló en un solo libro sino hasta 1917. El actual Código de Derecho Canónico, publicado en 1983, es el producto de una revisión del Código de 1917. Algunas disposiciones relativas a la renuncia de un Papa existían en formas antiguas de la ley (en el siglo 13 el Papa Bonifacio VIII declaró: "Nuestro predecesor, el Papa Celestino... constituyó y decretó que el Romano Pontífice puede renunciar libremente.... hemos determinado... que se guardará este registro junto con otras constituciones para perpetuar su recuerdo”). Según el Código actual, un Papa puede renunciar de manera válida siempre y cuando tome la decisión libremente (canon 332,2) y lo haga por escrito o por vía oral en presencia de al menos dos cardenales de la iglesia que sirvan como testigos (véase el canon 189.2 -4), tal y como lo hizo este Benedicto.
Esta renuncia papal también es importante no sólo porque es la primera que se produce en el marco del Código de 1983, sino también por sus razones: no sabemos por qué el Papa Benedicto IX se retiró a un monasterio hace mil años, pero sí sabemos más acerca de por qué su sucesor Benedicto XVI está haciendo lo mismo ahora.
Hay que tener en cuenta que en la entrevista a Benedicto en el 2010, habló de "un papa" y no "yo". Él hablaba de lo que pensaba que todos los papas deberían hacer, y no sólo de lo que él debería hacer, cuando un pontífice "ya no es física, psicológica y espiritualmente capaz de manejar los deberes de su cargo ": renunciar. Es evidente que Benedicto XVI había decidido que para él ese momento había llegado. De manera obvia él cree, en primer lugar, que un papa significativamente incapacitado no debe ocupar el cargo, y en segundo lugar, que al renunciar antes de una enfermedad catastrófica, se está asegurando de que la iglesia no se enfrente a una situación para la que no está del todo preparada.
Si bien la ley eclesiástica sobre la renuncia papal es relativamente clara, no puede decirse lo mismo sobre la incapacitación grave de un papa. Aquí tenemos que volver a la ley canónica, la cual sí contempla la posibilidad de que la Santa Sede pueda estar lo que llamaría "impedida", es decir, en caso de que un papa se encontrara totalmente incapacitado, enfermo mental, o verdaderamente incapaz de realizar las tareas de la oficina de cualquier otra manera. Para reglamentar esas situaciones, la ley se refiere a "las leyes especiales promulgadas para estas circunstancias" (canon 335). Estas "leyes especiales" que rigen lo que sucede cuando la Santa Sede está vacante se encuentran en los procedimientos que los papas establecieron para las elecciones papales, revisadas recientemente por el Papa en 1996, pero dentro de estas leyes especiales, nunca se ha hecho una previsión para un papa “impedido”. En otras secciones del derecho canónico existen procedimientos para destituir a un obispo enfermo, pero no hay nada similar para el caso de un papa incapacitado -aunque él también es un obispo de Roma-, con excepción de la disposición de que un papa en esa condición tenga un cardenal designado para supervisar la administración vaticana.
Aunque no sin precedentes en la historia y la ley de la iglesia, la audaz decisión de Benedicto XVI de renunciar sienta el precedente moderno de que a pesar de que un papa es presumiblemente elegido de por vida, no tiene por qué y no debe continuar sirviendo si no es capaz de hacerlo. De hecho, un papa incapacitado no tiene que abdicar para dejar su cargo a sus ayudantes, y puede dejar el lugar a alguien más que sea capaz de dirigir a la iglesia en el futuro.
Recursos en línea
• List of all the popes
• Cánones 332 y 335 del Código de la Ley Canónica de 1983
Reprinted with permission from PrepareTheWord.com. ©TrueQuest Communications.
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