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Surprise is not only a tool against opponents. It is also a way of setting the conditions of a decision yourself before others set them. Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI since 2005, was not a man of grand gestures. That is exactly why his announcement caught the Church and the public completely unprepared.
A morning like many others
Situation
On the morning of February 11, 2013, the World Day of the Sick, cardinals gather in the Apostolic Palace for a public consistory. On the agenda are canonizations, including that of the roughly 800 Martyrs of Otranto. At the end, Benedict XVI reads out a short declaration in Latin, the official language of the Church.
Link to the principle
The place was ordinary, the occasion inconspicuous, the language only half understood by most listeners. Nothing suggested a historic decision. The surprise lay in the combination of time, place and way.
A journalist understands Latin
Situation
The news was first spread by the journalist Giovanna Chirri, who understood the pope’s Latin. Many cardinals were taken by surprise. Cardinal Walter Brandmüller said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild that he had at first taken the report for a carnival joke; it was Rose Monday, the high point of carnival in Germany. Many heads of government paid tribute to the step; Italy’s prime minister, Mario Monti, said he was shaken.
Link to the principle
You can recognize a real surprise by the reaction. Apart from a few confidants, nobody had been told, not even most of the cardinals. That left no time to form camps, spread rumors or talk the decision to death before it was public.
A step nobody had taken for centuries
Situation
Before Benedict, the last pope to resign had been Gregory XII in 1415, in order to end the Great Western Schism. Before him, Celestine V had stepped down voluntarily in 1294 after only five months. Canon law expressly provides for resignation from the office if it is made freely and properly announced. Even so, all popes of the modern era had remained in office until their death. Benedict stressed that he was acting in full freedom.
Link to the principle
Many surprises do not use a new possibility but an old one that nobody takes seriously anymore. Resignation had long been legally conceivable. It was unexpected because habit had ruled it out.
Setting the time yourself
Situation
As his reason, Benedict cited his age: he lacked the strength of body and mind that the office demanded. The resignation took effect on February 28, 2013, at 8 p.m., 17 days after the announcement. On March 13, the conclave elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who took the name Francis.
Link to the principle
Intended or not, the surprise gave Benedict the initiative over the transition. He set the day, the deadline and the form. Instead of a long, publicly visible decline, there was a clean break with an orderly procedure. If you act by surprise, you set the rules that everyone else then has to adapt to.
The price of the unexpected
Situation
Because there were no precedents, questions first had to be answered: what the former pope should be called, what he should wear, where he should live. Benedict took the title of pope emeritus and lived in a former monastery in the Vatican until his death on December 31, 2022. The fact that two men in white were living in the Vatican sparked debate again and again in the years that followed.
Link to the principle
Surprise creates freedom, but it also creates situations without rules. If you do the unexpected, you have to think through the consequences for which there are no answers yet.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
- A surprise can protect a decision, not just an attack.
- If you set the time yourself, you determine the conditions.
- Watch for options that are allowed but used by nobody.
- An inconspicuous setting can make big news more powerful.
- Clarify beforehand what needs to be settled after the surprise.
Summary
Benedict XVI announced his resignation in Latin at an ordinary consistory. Hardly anyone was prepared, not even most of the cardinals. In this way he determined the time, deadline and form of the transition himself. The surprise used an option that canon law had long known but that nobody had chosen for centuries. It brought clarity and, at the same time, new questions for which there were no rules yet.
