As man is storied
Pope Benedict XVI
was a man that represented the frailty of our humanity, for all flesh shall
perish. That is nature as it has been from long before we recorded history I
note that Roman Catholic Church is the longest continuously running political and
religious organisation, what she documents in her archives, some unsearchable
of the mysteries of our human race would intrigue those who eventually have liberal
access to those libraries.
When Pope Benedict XVI took the papacy
at the end of the long reign of Pope John Paul II, much
as he was highly influential as the Dean of the College of Cardinal and Prefect
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he was also an old man of 78
and for almost 8 years he bore the burden of his ministry with the strength he
could muster and the weaknesses that plagued him in the many domains where he wielded
influence from within himself to the broader church and global political
organisation he led.
As man is frail
When he decided he could no do more,
he resigned from the papacy and took on the title of Pope Emeritus sequestering
himself at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican Gardens as Pope Francis succeeded
him at the age of 76 and he presided over the solemn funeral mass of his
predecessor, also now a frail man of 86 years of age.
Of men of advanced years, there was
every possibility that the current pope could predecease the man he succeeded,
my cultural heritage of the Yoruba celebrates the lives of people who live to a
great old age at death, even as congratulations are offered to those who
survived them. Our mortality is ever present in the course of our existence.
The concerns that a pope in retirement
would inadvertently interfere with the organisation of his successor were not
borne out. Pope Benedict XVI devoted himself to writing, studying, and prayer with
the occasional snippets of news about him, what he was up to and his health
condition.
As man is mortal
In his death, at the age of 95 on New
Year’s Eve into 2023, there became how to celebrate a cardinal and a pope, as he
was not the Sovereign of the Vatican City, apart from officials attending from
Italy where the Vatican is situated and Germany, where he was from, any other country representatives would have attended in a personal capacity.
For the wealth and influence of the
man and his standing, along with the offices he held, “As per tradition, the
Pope Emeritus' pallium,
coins and medals minted during his pontificate, as well as a "Rogito"
or Deed summarizing the highlights of his papacy, were also placed inside the
casket. He was buried in a triple coffin of caskets of cypress wood, zinc, and
oak. [Vatican
News: Deed of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI placed in casket]
As man is mummified
The zinc casket is welded shut with
seals and a plaque, but for the man who ruled over men, they see no corruption
for they neither return to dust nor are given to ashes, they become mummies of
posterity, an eternal reliquary of bones with hair and leathered skin.
It makes one wonder if the crypts of
royalty or the papacy very much like the pyramids of the Pharaohs might be
discovered millennia from the present time will reveal to that civilisation
once again the treasures of antiquity exemplified in the lives of significant
persons of our times only for them to be plundered in the name of archaeology for
the new museums that as human beings we visit to gawp at artefacts with
intrigue.
As I watch a replay of the funeral
Mass, the solemnity with the obscurity of Latin clouds the ceremony with
mystery and awe. Pope Francis was wheeled in on the chair, and we all at
another funeral find that moment to reflect that the times of man are just for
a season. The celebration of our lives is informed by how we lived and for
all that we might have done, our stories are buried in a summary and our graves
have the briefest of inscriptions; our names, the year of our coming and the
year of our passing.
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As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it
is gone, And its place remembers it no more. Psalm 103:15-16 (NKJV)
