Why Did Pope Benedict XVI Really Leave The Vatican? | The Great Conclave | Parable

[Music] on february the 11th 2013 pope benedict xvi made a stunning break with the past becoming the first leader of the roman catholic church in nearly 600 years to resign benedict the 16th decision set in motion an ancient electoral process that unfolded before the global media of the 21st century [Music] i was shocked my brain stopped working and my legs began to tremble all i knew was that this was a time bomb that was about to go off in my hands i heard the holy father speaking in latin i thought to myself i must have forgotten my latin as i couldn't see the relationship between the canadization ceremony and the words of the holy father it was the pope in person who was speaking in front of the united body of cardinals to renounce and this was totally valid as it was spoken in the language of the church and he specified that he had made this decision after examining his conscience so the resignation was effective the news sent shock waves around the world at that time i was in the furthest diocese to the east of cuba when i heard the telephone ring it was a cuban student priest who was in rome who was calling me to tell me that the holy father had resigned speculation began immediately as to why he was stepping down some said that it was due to his feeble health and exhausting travel schedule his last journey was to cuba [Music] he did seem a little tired when he arrived in santiago on his way from mexico but when he reached havana he didn't seem so tired he was rather serene the last year of benedict's papacy had been marked by several scandals which seemed to drain his energy he ordered three prominent cardinals to draw up a secret report on the corruption in the vatican which he decided he would hand over personally to his successor jen luigi nutzi is a journalist who published documents leaked from inside the vatican sparking the vati leaks scandal they are such huge decisions that they are never the result of a single hand or event that's unthinkable this was the first time a pope had resigned since gregory xii stood down in 1415 to end a rift between opposing popes some speculated pope benedict had taken inspiration from the early retirement of selestein v he was a monk before being elected pope in 1294 and returned to being one five months later i was surprised but not shocked because i i had noted that he had said both in an interview i think with a german man who wrote that book out of this world he mentioned that they will cover the pope will resign for health reasons or other reasons and and he did blame flowers on the grave of pope celestine the fifth who was the last pope to resign like celestine pope benedict wanted to retire to a place of quiet meditation away from the media frenzy [Music] the roman cordia identified this convent mata ecclesiae within the vatican wars it is the tiny state's only farm i think probably wisely he chose to live in the vatican he'd be protected if he went back to bavaria or i think he it could easily be a place of pilgrimage you know and and i think that would be unhelpful so i think he'll be protected in the vatican he'll live a quiet life which he wants to do benedict made four more public appearances as his last day as pope approached roman catholics showered him with affection [Applause] he denounces the egoism and individualism in the church and he did that right after resigning and why did he do this because he was asking the cardinals to overcome their own individualism to find unity under a new pope on february of the 28th pope benedict xvi left the vatican by helicopter for the country residents at castelgandolfo these rare images show the apartment where he awaited his discreet return to the vatican in rome the papal apartments were locked and sealed and the throne of peter declared vacant there's a sense you know of incompleteness when you're without a pope because they can't be without peter for very long eight years had passed since the death of pope john paul ii we still kind of lived in the aura of pope john paul ii his the long process of his his dying and his courage with no pope to mourn catholic protocols had to change radically there would be two pokes in the vatican for the first time ever well i mean obviously if you are specialized in covering the vatican you can't miss the point that these are monumentally amazing days that we're living through you know i mean when you cover an institution that has more than two thousand years of history you don't get a chance to use words like uncharted water is very on very often but that is very much where we are benedict's resignation set in motion the most ancient ritual still cloaked in mystery during the two weeks that followed the catholic church's most influential leaders met in the vatican hall of audiences and then in the secret conclave to elect a new pope [Music] the man they chose was like everything else in this conclave extraordinary [Music] [Applause] the identity of the new pope came as a total surprise he was the first non-european in 1300 years and the first member of the jesuit order to be given such power it was a stunning break with the past [Music] he was 76 he'd and people would say we'd better have a younger pope and so on but no this man seemed to have those qualities which were recognized and i think that was the grace of the holy spirit on march the 19th 2013 just five weeks after pope benedict had announced his resignation a new pope was installed as the spiritual leader of the world's largest organized faith this archbishop from far flung argentina now pushed the 000 year old institution into the modern world [Music] after pope benedict left office on february of the 28th 2013 ancient church protocols were dusted off to prepare for these most mysterious elections speculation was rampant and bookmakers took bets on who would come out pope and irish bookmaker paddy power is taking bets on who will be named we don't see this as a sinful or anything for us it's just entertainment and we we've been running a money back special in which if the cardinals elected a black pope we would refund all losing bets so we were putting our neck on the line for upwards of a million dollars had they elected someone like cardinal turkson of ghana um thankfully our prayers were answered and uh the money back special didn't click behind the scenes clerical tailors gamarelli were working hard to prepare the three papal robes of different sizes to fit whichever cardinal was elected the company has served the popes once powerful princes as well as spiritual leaders for 300 years serving a king or an emperor is always a good thing also because since he chose us he's clearly very happy clerical clothing was standardized a thousand years ago and the gammareli family still owns and restores ancient robes the never changes the shape of the person can change the height or width but the design is always the same it's very nice to see the evolution of these priests who come here to get their first cassock for their ordination and then over time become monsignori bishops and sometimes even cardinals as the conclave neared the gammareli taylors proudly exhibited in their shop windows the robes that would soon hang in the hall of tears awaiting the new leader of the roman catholic church [Music] since the earliest times of christianity the pope has been both a political and spiritual leader when a pope dies the kamelinga removes from the deceased pontiff's hand the papal sign of office the fisherman's ring and smashes it along with the seal of office in 2013 cardinal tachizio bertone was the all-powerful vatican secretary of state and kamerlengo it was he who personally placed the seals on the papal apartments fabrizio mastrofini is a journalist at vatican radio and keen vatican watcher the seals were placed on the papal apartments on the third floor of the apostolic palace but not at castel gandolfo because the pope emeritus benedict the 16th went to stay at castelgandolfo benedict's resignation would be the first of many departures from tradition in the coming weeks we've already had one massive shock i mean nobody saw benedict the 16th resignation coming we now live in a world in which everything seems a little more possible the tradition of electing a pope goes back to the very origins of christianity in the roman empire shutting away cardinals to elect a pope secretly is a consequence of a thousand years of power struggles between political and spiritual leaders the first christian missionary to rome was saint peter the apostle for 300 years the christians in rome remained united under a local leader elected by his followers in 313 emperor constantine legalized christianity and the bishops of rome gained political power the church survived the fall of the roman empire and in the centuries that followed the popes became cultural and political powerhouses as god's representatives on earth popes could make or break kingdoms and empires [Music] having a pope who could confer divine authority on kings and emperors was vital to medieval society in order to avoid outside influence during the election cardinals would be physically isolated sometimes even locked up hence the word conclave from the latin komclavi with a key elections were held wherever a pope died and five times they took place in perugia a city close to rome it was here that a divided college of cardinals elected an obscure and saintly monk to become pope in perugia in a perugian conclave in 1294 the hermit pietro moroney of isernia isernia was where he was born was elected pope and he took the name celestine the fifth question [Music] ruled only five months before resigning the next two popes died violent deaths benedict x was poisoned here in perugia perugia had a bad reputation for this because they would often use a poison lead acetate called perugia water which was anything but water perugia's ancient cathedral still holds artifacts of the conclaves including a mass grave containing the remains of five popes and this throne designed to resemble the folding stool of roman generals [Music] the last conclave held here brought disaster to the church the new pope was french and moved the holy see to avignon in france today cardinals come from all over the world and represent a global faith with its 1.2 billion members but for 2 000 years they were mostly italians who acted as the closest aides to the bishop of rome today the church's global reach is paired with the ancient traditions of the past when each cardinal is asked to preside over a local church in rome the reason why you're an elector is because you're a parish priest in rome in the old church in the ancient church the the the bishop of rome was elected by the parish priests and so that custom continues that when you're made a cardinal you're given a church in rome to be the titular parish priest and so there's a sense in which the first aim of the cardinals it's not we're electing a pope yeah but we're electing the bishop of rome it is only rare that the cardinals from across the globe return to the church they have been assigned to in rome but on march the 10th 2013 the cardinals exceptionally said masses in these churches offering a rare public glimpse of the men who were about to disappear into the sistine chapel to elect a pope [Music] the number of cardinals has grown from just a handful in the middle ages to 180 today with a limit of 120 electors who have to be under 80 years of age these ancient engravings show the whole process of papal election from the passing of the pope to the election of a new one the cardinals were required to sleep in cubicles close to the conclave hall until pope john paul ii had a hostel built for them inside the vatican walls as cardinals gathered in rome the church faced its worst crisis in decades and had to address huge problems including pedophilia the vatican bank and infighting within the vatican government known as the courier during the congregations they called the meetings that took place at the card was all the cargos for nearly a week every morning we were speaking and cars were speaking very openly very honestly about what they the the the challenges facing the church but the politics needed the new pope the north american delegation called for greater transparency and began holding daily press briefings and our bishops are expected not merely to do tv and printed reviews but to be on twitter and to be on facebook and to be sort of ubiquitous i mean there's a sense in which they're not only shepherds of souls but they're media celebrities they are the national bishops conference that has been done the best job of making their cardinals available to the press they're organizing briefings here at the north american college to sort of feed the beast the church hierarchy wanted only the vatican's official spokesman to deliver information to the outside world and the north american cardinals were forced to stop it seemed the vatican apparatus was taking a step backwards towards the middle ages the need emerged for there to be better communications between the holy see that is to say the church in rome and the cardinals out of rome the anti-pedophilia pressure group snap issued a list of 12 cardinals they called the dirty dozen whom they opposed as potential popes due to what the group claimed was their ambiguous attitude towards abuse we've looked at some of the track records and there's certainly some who we're very very worried about i think it's critical to the cardinals that whoever they pick have clean hands that is not be carrying any baggage from the sex abuse scandal because they know that if they're going to turn a corner the last thing they want is for the day one story about the new pope to be cloud of sex abuse hangs over rome the question was who best was suited to carry out the massive reforms needed there is always talk of the profile of the next pope and whoever he is will always be a surprise the person elected and the profile that he will have during his pontificate can simply not be imagined beforehand the problem of who will be the next holy father isn't a geographical issue for example and i've said this many times peter wasn't roman many hoped the conclave would not drag on sequester if the conclave were to last a long time it would give a bad impression and cause even greater confusion it had been 35 years since an italian had been pope many thought that an italian cardinal might be chosen and archbishop of milan angelo scala was the front runner african cardinals such as caden larenzi of nigeria also had a high profile some thought it was time for a north american latin america however is the world's most catholic continent in latin america yes of course it's 44 percent of the of the catholics in the world but at the same time latin america is the continent where we have the largest social gaps the growing diversity of the roman catholic church would prove a key factor in the upcoming papal election the sistine chapel was carefully being readied to host the 115 cardinals who would choose the next pope amidst the breathtaking frescoes by michelangelo the ancient chapel was being transformed into a magnificent stage for the dramatic election of one of the most powerful men in the world there is a careful preparation of the floor of the sistine chapel because the sistine chapel has an uneven floor since it is a chapel a church to all intents and purposes so the floor is leveled out a false floor is created to make it even so as not to create problems for the cardinals other items have to be prepared too the stove that burns the ballots is one of the most important physical items in the whole conclave it is connected by a series of copper tubes to the legendary chimney that protrudes from the roof of the sistine chapel it is here that the voting cards are burned with a chemical mixture that gives off black smoke when there is no two-thirds majority or white smoke when a pope has been elected although with 60 cardinals the europeans were proportionally the largest group a 20-strong delegation from the united states and 13 from latin america seemed to change the balance of cultural interests within the voting body on march the 12th 2013 the college of all the 180 cardinals held an elaborate mass in saint peter's basinica and prayed with faithful from all over the world for the election of the new pope 115 cardinals then made their way to the nearby sistine chapel where they would vote four times a day until they agreed on one man to rule over the roman catholic church the conclave ritual has developed over the millennia for centuries cardinals have sworn to keep what happens inside secret once the cardinals had taken the oath of silence the master of ceremonies ordered extra omnis literally all out the doors were closed outside in saint peter's square excitement hung in the air they are sitting on their chairs which are quite narrow they have to write the name of the person they have chosen and then in a pre-established order they have to walk all the way down the chapel and deposit the card in the voting room the voting rules require a two-thirds majority of electors to decide on one name the winning candidate needed 77 votes everything about it is is is dramatic first of all the the the system chapel which you you don't always see in such detail in the sense you've got plenty of time to look around and with the michelangelo's painting stress goes from from adam and eve to the last judgment it's simply stunning you're in liturgical guard because it's a liturgy it's choreographed uh the there's little difference as you can imagine if you know the difference between the personality of cardinal ratzinger and the personality of cardinal ray but the script is the same for two days the cardinals prayed and voted in the sistine chapel breaking only for lunch and dinner when they were transported by bus from the chapel to their hostel along this route around the back of saint peter's basilica [Music] they were assisted by a number of lay personnel who were also sworn to secrecy outside in saint peter's square there were church groups associations and pilgrims from around the world as the ballots came and went the square filled up with the curious and the faithful waiting for a sign put dennis robin in a pokemobile so we've we've built an exact replica of benedict's pope mobile and we've been parading him around uh saint peter's the first two ballots in the afternoon of the 12th produced only dark black smoke the next two ballots on the morning of the 13th also signaled that no pope had been elected speculation was rampant about what power struggles might be unfolding inside it's a very prayerful time for all of us it's a quiet time you pray and you vote you pray and you vote basically you can talk quietly if you want to the people next year but they're always the same people because you're seated in order of precedence next to me on my left is always the archbishop of mexico city next to him the archbishop of vienna and over on this side well the cardinal who used to be the artificial blackvue in the ukraine has died so i have another polish cardinal now next to me the voting system is laborious and antiquated but has always worked having guaranteed the election of 266 popes there are four ballots per day two in the morning and two in the afternoon after each of the two sessions the ballot papers are burned the key officials chosen by lot from the 115 cardinals are the three scrutineers who count the votes when a ballot begins each cardinal is given a number of cards with the latin words and a space at the bottom to write in their candidate one by one they swear to have voted according to conscience as they placed the card on a plate covering the voting urn and then tip it in there and you say before god i believe this man is the the man i would choose for to be the next permanent put you and then you walk back that takes about 20 minutes before they all have done it so you go back to your seat and you you pray or you talk to your neighbors and you wait you examine your own motives am i doing this for self-interest am i doing it just for the interest of my own church am i doing it for the interest of my own culture or people or am i doing it because i believe he's the best one for the universal church so there's an examination of conscience even as you vote which is designed to set you free and then you also have to ask is he free free to govern the universal church once voting is complete the cards are counted read and votes counted by the three scrutineers and then the scrutineers who are sitting in three cardinals one takes out the the the vote and then passes it to another and then it's read out and so all the 115 votes the candidates who are voted for are read out and of course we all listen with great ability what's happening how many votes did so-and-so get and and then you begin again you have two votes at a time so you try to do it with the lord you can't second guess the lord and just you know but uh you try to be open to the promptings of the spirit of the lord and i i felt that as i you know as you watch the votes and you change your own votes etc you think is this now where i'm supposed to go if there is no two-thirds majority then the cards are tied together re-counted and burned a chemical mixture is added to make the smoke turn the blackest black so there is no confusion about the outcome after the fourth vote when one particular cartel was getting near the 77 they needed well i i've really had such a dramatic situation you could have heard a pin drop seventy something he had to get 77 votes and eventually he reached 77 and there was a stillness and then some people started clapping but then they had to carry on with the voting the cardinals are ordinary people and some are smarter than others and some are talented in other ways but basically it's a pretty pedestrian group of people in some ways and yet when uh the man is chosen and he accepts because he's not pope until he accepts all of a sudden the relationships shift and you see something in him that you didn't see before this is the moment when an ordinary cardinal accepts this extraordinary position when he gets to choose the name his papacy will be remembered by throughout history the senior carter went up to the then carl ratziker and said do you accept to become the supreme pontiff of the catholic church and he said i accept as the will of god and then what name do you think he said benedict and immediately he's pope i mean it is there's no ritual there's no he is po from that very moment when he chose the name francis i i was totally surprised because it's not a roman name it's an italian name but it's not a roman name you know it's not gregory and pius and benedict so uh that that's my name it's my given name and i couldn't believe it cardinal jorge bergoglio chose the name francis after saint francis of assisi defender of the poor and downtrodden he is the first pope ever to do so after uh that moment when he is elected and he comes back closes but we all go up and greet him one by one and say a few things uh and you know uh i i spoke in spanish that my yamo fran sounds part of me llamo frances tambien you know my name is francis too and he just laughed and he said i know francis jorge and george well what for catholics a pope means he's not just added on to the churches he's actually an integral part of of being a catholic's party if you like of one's faith because we believe that jesus left peter and the apostles to continue that teaching and that's what happens today the peter and the and the bishops uh continue that so it took a long time and uh it so happened that we ended up with a pope from south america from argentina uh who is a well-known cardinal but not a cardinal is very active here in rome you're very concerned about governing buenos aires and being with the poor there a secret thousand-year-old ritual had just produced a new pope his name took the world by surprise jorge mario bergoglio was the first non-european to be elected to lead the roman catholic church in more than a thousand years as he himself said his brother cardinals had gone to the other side of the world to find a new leader pope francis came from the far-flung diocese of buenos aires the election process had taken less than two weeks [Music] pope benedictus was looking around europe and was europe-minded this pope surely is going to be latin american minded but then the church is going to be latin american minded and have the priorities needed in latin america and to be spread to the rest of the world [Music] with the election he became the pastor of the city of rome and would have to install a new government the task that lay ahead was massive [Music] the man does not possess the office the office possesses the man so he is benedict was very clear on this you know it's not my job to change the teaching it's my job to explain it and pass it on the first steps of the new pope will be the first appointments and then the first mass the inaugural mass and here too on the basis of what he will say we will have some indication of his future policies and where he wants to go pope francis was now the ruler of the tiny vatican city and bishop of rome the supreme moral authority in the roman catholic world [Music] non-catholics may not believe in everything the pope says whatever but they do think that the election of a pope is a significant event in the in the moral consensus of the world and and that what he says they may accept it or not but what he says is is important somehow he's a moral arbiter he's a man of the people and he doesn't like uh should we say all the luxuries or the gold that is related with a courier he likes to ride the ordinary bus the new pope known for his austere lifestyle and simple ways refused to live in the lavish papal apartments that popes have occupied for more than 150 years instead he preferred a small apartment in the sancta mata hostel where the cardinals had been lodged during the conclave it was just the beginning of what was to become a radical new style of church governance [Music] on march the 19th 2013 in an inauguration ceremony beamed to screens the world over pope francis celebrated his very first mass the symbology of the ceremony was already a clear sign of the pope's new style [Music] by receiving a new fisherman's ring he became the 266th pope and bishop of rome his simple robes marked a radical departure from his predecessor's archaic elaborate appearance [Music] the papal tiara which once represented the pope's triple authority as supreme pontiff vicar of christ and ruler of men had been abandoned by pope paul vi in 1963. the new pope's simplicity was to set the tone for a new era in the vatican he said the church should go back to the people and the poor and he's been showing that he won't use those red shoes he's still you know stepping on his old worn out shoes he he chose that name francis for the first time ever now two popes lived in the vatican [Music] on the 2nd of may 2013 the pope emeritus benedict returned to the vatican from castel gandolfo and took up residence in the convent mate ecclesiae he handed the secret report on corruption in the vatican to his successor as promised but benedict's a very intelligent wise man he won't try and influence his successor and this man certainly will not be influenced in that way although the two popes were dressed similarly there was one almost imperceptible difference between their white robes emeritus pope benedict will be allowed to wear white but without the little cloak that covers the pope's shoulders which is a sign of being a bishop in this case the bishop of rome unlike his predecessor benedict xvi pope francis seems uncomfortable with the ornate and ceremonial trappings of vatican life a far cry from his humble immigrant upbringing and the approachable down-to-earth style he was used to in his native buenos aires pope francis established an open and simple style of leadership at the roman catholic church right from the day of his inauguration i think it is very positive that pope francis is 76 year old he's not an old man he's a man that has a lot of experience and has looked the last 10 10 years of what has been going on with the vatican with the church strong calls from several quarters to reform the inner workings of the government of the holy see will undoubtedly lead to change if he reminds us all that the church is catholic universal and that the poor are the first in the kingdom of god and then he does the necessary moves to assure that the governance of the church is more efficient and is more transparent that level out of impact pope francis responded to criticism of the courier by calling eight cardinals to rome and setting up a commission to study the reforms among them cardinal o'malley archbishop of boston and cardinal vettel president of the vatican city state governorate the new pope is free to do what he wants but he is morally bound to follow the indications of the other cardinals expressed during the congregation of cardinals jorge mario bergoglio is a traditionalist he has been against abortion gay marriage against euthanasia but on the other hand he is a very shall we say progressive and the way he addresses uh what the shirt the church should do uh [Music] in the day-to-day fields or basis because the jesuits have a tradition of being obedient towards the church and towards the pope not of taking a role of responsibility to themselves this is the characteristic of the society of jesus that has made the choice of a jesuit pope impossible until today his mission as the leader of the roman catholic church appears more focused on representing people from all economic backgrounds especially in latin america pope francis is talking about re-evangelizing the the catholics that have forgotten the basics of what catholicism is [Music] 300 million roman catholics live in latin america it is a continent that is also marked by rapid social change and extensive poverty [Music] if you go to the provinces if you go to mesopotamia in the northeast or to the north west where you get all the inca stream and all these indigenous tribes then you can see this should we say synthetic way of living being a catholic and and you get like uh indigenous traditions intermingling with uh with with a classical way of of being a catholic [Music] the vatican the smallest sovereign state in the world is the beating heart of the roman catholic church if the first months of this papacy are any gauge the enthusiasm of latin american catholics and the common touch of pope francis has quickened its pulse and hastened the pace of change

Channel: Parable - Religious History Documentaries

Views: 2,665,947

Keywords: parable, parable channel, parable documentary, religious history, religious history documentary, bible documentary, bible documentary bbc, jesus documentary, pope benedict, pope benedict xvi election, pope benedict xvi resignation, pope benedict xvi, pope benedict xvi resignation speech, the pope that resigned, why pope benedi, why pope benedict resigned, why did pope benedict stepped down, inside the vatican, the vatican documentary, pope documentary, the great conclave

Id: 879MyNEEDqQ

Length: 43min 34sec (2614 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 29 2022