The strange custom of the office for life – Diepresse.com
What do the Pope, US federal judge and star architect Renzo Piano have in common? They hold offices that they hardly get rid of. About reasons and dangers of choice « ad vitam ».
Robert Prevost plays tennis. A year and a half ago, the then cardinal and now Pope Leo XIV described himself as a « rather amateurous » player, who is happy to be able to indulge in his passion more often after moving to the Vatican. So the 69-year-old seems to be physically fit, and one can expect his pontificate, God want, will be one of the longer ones. Incidentally, Pius IX was the longest on the Petri chair in the 19th century, for almost 32 years in which he changed from the liberals to reactionary.
In our time, life expectancy increases the risk that Popes will become demented or physically unable to work long before their death – and no longer capable of resigning with clear consciousness. An office for life, as it used to be common for monarchs, seems to have fallen out of time. Almost all bishops died in office until the second Vatican, they were married to their diocese. As Benedict XVI. In 2013 his resignation as a Pope declared that this was considered a breach of taboo, and many warned that this should not become the rule. But why?
