Three days before Catholics
throughout the world observed Ash Wednesday, traditionally a day of
fasting and repentance, their spiritual leader made his own sobering
announcement. The Feb. 10 resignation of 85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI has left many in the Vatican stunned, and some say it signals a pivotal transformation in the Catholic Church itself.
It has also reverberated in dioceses throughout the Central and East European region, drawing mixed reactions from the church's leaders, disciples and critics.
Though the Czech and Moravian dioceses have a less significant number of disciples than its counterparts in neighboring Poland and Germany, news of the papal resignation cast the media spotlight on Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka, the only Czech cardinal whose age permits him to participate in the secret conclave that selects the new pope.
Duka, 70, is now slated to travel to the Vatican next month for a Palm Sunday sitting that will determine the new head of the Catholic Church. He was named cardinal only one year ago to effectively replace Czech Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, whose age disqualifies him from participating in the conclave.
"[Duka's] voice as a voter of the new pope will undoubtedly influence the future direction of the Catholic Church," said Monsignor Tomáš Holub, general-secretary of the Czech Bishops Conference.
"The choice of each conclave participant will be a significant decision, and prayers of local believers may help Cardinal Duka make the correct decision in the greatest responsibility belonging to the cardinal's title."
The first German pope in 1,000 years, Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was known as a pragmatic conservative, unbending on controversial issues such as homosexuality, condom usage and the entrance of women into the priesthood.
Before he was elected pope in 2005, Ratzinger was called "God's Rottweiler" due to his purist stance on Catholic theology, whose interpretation he oversaw as head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern-day successor to the Roman Inquisition.
Much of his papacy was devoted to fighting against what he saw as a growing secularization of the Western world. Yet if his ideological stance as pope was seen as conservative, his departure was anything but.
Ratzinger's decision to step down is unprecedented in modern times, as the last pontiff to do so was Gregory Xii in the year 1415.
Local church leaders interpreted the act, explained by the pope as an admission of his failing strengths to govern the 2,000-year-old institution "in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith," as one of singular boldness.
"As a church, we definitely value his courage to take this unexpected step. We would like to express our respect and support in his difficult situation," Holub said. "The Holy Father's decision to resign from his office is of historic importance, because it creates a precedent for the decision-making of future popes in similar situations."
Reserved and humble in demeanor, Benedict XVI generally failed to draw crowds on the same scale as his beatified predecessor, John Paul II.
Throughout his papacy, Benedict XVI was plagued by a series of scandals including child-abuse cases in Ireland and the United States, where the church collects its largest percentage of contributions from disciples.
Compounded with a scandal that saw a Vatican butler leak documents purporting corruption in the church's business dealings, these scandals have left the Catholic Church in a weakened and disorganized position.
"His short pontificate was a time of growing secularization, relativism and further purification of the church of priests accused of sexual abuse of minors," said Ewa Czaczkowska from Rzeczpospolita, a daily newspaper in Poland.
In mostly Eastern Orthodox Russia, clerics interpreted the move as a realignment of the Vatican's conservative and more progressive forces.
"The next conclave of the cardinals will challenge the conservative, based on a healthy traditionalism [that permeates the] forces of the Roman Catholic Church," said Archpriest Maksim Kozlov, professor of the Moscow Theological Academy and an expert on the Russian Orthodox Church's relations with other Christian churches.
Those close to Benedict XVI have attributed the resignation to his declining energy in old age, noting the pope had completed all his books, missions and scheduled visits.
Critical voices have also emerged, stating the resignation precludes the emergence of yet another scandal, an allegation the Vatican vehemently denies.
Still others have expressed theological disconcert at the notion of God's chosen representative shedding his responsibility to lead his 1.2-billion flock until death.
"We can understand the Holy Father's decision. We knew he had difficulty walking," said Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz from the Vatican. Commenting on Benedict XVI's decision to resign, Dziwisz recalled the last days of John Paul II: "He led the church until the end. This flowed from his belief that from the cross, you don't step down."
With more than a month until the conclave, Vatican watchers have produced a series of speculative lists of successors. The potential candidates include Ghana's Cardinal Peter Turkson, and insiders have not ruled out the possibility the next pope will hail from the developing world to reflect the changing demographic of Roman Catholics.
Holub, as well, did not rule out this possibility. Whatever the result, next month's developments will set the pace for the Catholic Church in an era that has saddled it with unprecedented challenges.
"The Catholic Church will undoubtedly engage in an intensive discussion of its future direction," Holub said. "In the end, this, too, is the purpose of a conclave."