The Templar Concordat

     One of the things I've really enjoyed about having a book out is that I get  to "meet" a large number of other writers in various online hangouts. One of those writers is Terrence O'Brien. I first noticed Terrence when I saw that he often posted questions that ran contrary to whatever conventional wisdom might be on display in a particular thread. Since I tend to like people who tweak the nose of conventional wisdom, I bought a copy of his book, The Templar Concordat, which is available here for only $2.99.
     I loved the book. He created memorable characters that have stuck with me in the intervening weeks since I finished it. In a nutshell, it is the story of what happens when two ancient and powerful organizations clash while using 21st Century technology. If this sounds like The Templar Concordat might be in Dan Brown-Da Vinci Code territory, I suppose it is. If you are a horror writer, I the comparisons to Stephen King are inevitable and if you write about Knights Templar and The Catholic Church, Dan Brown looms just as large. Here's the thing - I actually liked Templar Concordat better than Angels and Demons and its ilk. Those books are often so numbingly serious that I forget to have fun while I am reading them. There is plenty of serious stuff in this book, but it is leavened with fun elements as well. 
     My favorite character in the book is a newly-elected Pope who hails from Mexico. He has characteristics we don't often associate with Popes: he is low-key, isn't impressed with himself and keeps a small refrigerator filled with Diet Coke in his office. I would gladly read an entire book that just follows him on his daily duties.
     In any case, because Terrance has done so much research and thinking about the Catholic Church and its history, I dropped him a line and asked him if he would be willing to write a guest blog for me about the resignation of a Pope. Ladies and gentlemen, Terrence O'Brien:     


      Lots of things have happened in the last few years that I didn't expect. We all heard it. Housing prices always go up. Depressions are a thing of the past. Unemployment will never go above 6%. The Euro is solid. A Black will never be president. We even had a near miss by an asteroid, and Russia got slammed by a meteoric little brother. At least the Cubs aren't a pennant threat this year. Or are they?

      But now a pope has resigned? That’s something I never expected to see. He just wrote a letter, got out of the Chair of Peter, waved to 1.2 billion Catholics, wished the world well, and headed off to the countryside.  There was no invading army, no anti-pope, no alliances with kings, and no sudden scandal. Those would all have been things we could grasp. But, no. He just walked away. The world knows something significant just happened, but we don’t really know what.

      I have always been fascinated with Church history. It’s the oldest organization in the world, and has a track record that can’t be matched. For an author there is more material in the real history of the Church than he could ever dream up.

      Today we tend to think of the Church as a religious organization, but its religious influence has been matched by secular power that transcended nation states and continents. We don’t have to look far. Pope John Paul plotted against the communists in Eastern Europe, then faced down the rulers of those countries in a cat-and-mouse game that ended with the capitulation of the communists. Millions turned out to see him and he told them they were free. They decided he was right. He certainly had help, but no other player in the game would ever downplay his contribution.

      Resignations of past popes seem to have more to do with secular power plays than any religious considerations. Including Benedict’s recent resignation, there have only been six other well documented resignations. There are three others from Roman Empire times, but the details are sketchy.

 Gregory XII 1415

     The last man to walk away from that kind of power was Gregory XII in 1415. He left the papacy in a deal that ended the schism in the Church that resulted in having one pope in Rome and another pope in Avignon. When Gregory left, there were actually three popes since a council that tried to resolve the situation in 1408 only succeeded in making a third pope rather than consolidating around one. In 1415 the Council of Constance managed a grand bargain that resulted in no pope. The Council avoided any confusion by waiting until Gregory died in 1418 to elect Martin V as the only pope.

 Celestine V 1294

     In today’s papal elections, the cardinals are locked away in Conclave until they elect a pope. That keeps out all the other interested parties. But that practice didn’t become fully accepted until after the election of Pope Celestine V in 1294. Celestine himself ordered that all future elections be under Conclave rules. The twelve cardinals who elected Celestine voted over a two year period, moved around to the strongholds of their allies, and finally convened in Perugia where six cardinals elected Celestine. Celestine never sought the papacy, lacked political skills to deal with the Roman families vying for papal power, and resigned under pressure after five months. His successor did have the political skills and imprisoned Celestine until his death.

Benedict IX and Gregory VI 1045-1046


     Accounts vary, but in 1045 the twenty-year-old Pope Benedict IX received a sum of money, and abdicated in favor of his godfather who became Gregory VI. Benedict didn’t want to be pope, and was stuck in the job by his powerful family. This was before the papal elections took place in Conclave, and the people of Rome, the ruling families, and the important clergy decided on a pope by consensus. But consensus can be fickle, and Sylvester III also claimed the papacy. To complicate things even more, Benedict returned and wanted the papacy back after he had sold it. The Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III, came down from Germany to settle things. He cleared the field of all popes, told Gregory he had to resign because he had purchased the papacy, and took him back to Germany for safe keeping.

 Benedict V 964

     When the Romans decided they didn’t like the pope backed by Otto, the Holy Roman Emperor, they threw the pope out and re-installed the pope Otto had thrown out. When that one died, the Romans once again snubbed the emperor and elected Benedict V who controlled the city militia. Otto wasn’t about to take that, so he took his army south and put Rome under siege. Rather than starve for the pope, the Romans opened the gates and turned him over to Otto. Otto put his own man back in the papacy again, and gave Benedict a simple choice. He could resign or die. Benedict quickly chose, and Otto took him back to Germany where he died a year later.

 Today

     And that brings us to the most recent resignation that’s in today’s headlines. There was no emperor, no rioting Romans, no anti-popes, and no prison. Benedict apparently decided it was time for him to retire. There are lots of questions, and few answers.

 Is he setting a precedent? Will popes now step down when they feel the job is too much? Will they be expected to step down? Will they be pressured to step down?  Cardinals can’t vote in the Conclave if they are older than eighty, so perhaps there is also a limit for the pope. Any pope can also make a rule stipulating retirement for all his successors.

      Now that Cardinal Bergoglio has become Pope Francis, we can’t deny there are two men alive who have been elected pope. In the past, the Church has been plagued by competing claims to the papacy. It hasn’t been a problem since the resignation of Gregory XII in 1415 because the Church was very careful to avoid the situation. Note that even after Gregory’s resignation, the Church did not select a new pope until Gregory died. There was no retired Gregory when Martin was elected pope.

      While Benedict made it abundantly clear he no longer has any claim to the papacy, there is no guarantee future factions will not unite around some retired pope. It’s often the interests behind the pope, rather than the man himself, that have generated the problems. For now, it looks like the Church is playing it by ear, but I’m sure both Benedict and Francis know the history and will do everything they can to set a precedent that chokes the potential in the cradle.

      How about the Vatican bureaucracy? This is a bureaucracy that has been building for two thousand years. As popes age and lose their health and mental agility, the bureaucracy has room to maneuver. If popes leave before age slows them, the power of the Vatican institutions and the cardinals who run them is diminished. Will that lead to opposition to retirement from powerful Vatican forces?

      And just as speculation, what could a novelist construct around Benedict’s resignation? The Church is being challenged on many fronts. Europe is receding as its center while Africa and South America are now strongholds of Catholicism. Sex scandals have spread around the world, and Benedict was handed that mess when John Paul died. Neither pope distinguished himself in dealing with it. Islamists are flexing their muscles against Christians in many parts of the world. And Europe which had been the center of Catholicism since ancient days is retreating from unification as the single currency fails and production cannot support the promises of the social compact. The pope’s butler was even convicted of stealing documents in an effort to support one Vatican faction against another.

      One of the things history shows us is that the Church has been through far worse times than what we see today. I suspect there is great deal to be learned from that, and I suspect it will still be around when today’s headlines are history.  Some say it is because of divine guidance. That would be remarkable. But what would be even more remarkable is if the Church is a purely human organization.

      But the Conclave has done its job. We wondered if the new pope would be an African, South American, or a New Yorker. Now we know. But I have an idea Benedict’s resignation changed something, and a new chapter is opening in the life of a very old institution.