I woke up this morning, like everyone else, to the surprising announcement by Pope Benedict XIV's that he will resign the Papacy on February 28. As I often will do with important news events, I shared some internet correspondence with my good and sage friend Couvi, who made the comment "It takes a wise and brave man to make that kind of decision."
Truer words were never spoken.
In an important office, it must be hard to resign. Where a person makes important decisions, that impact people's lives, society and even history, that decision must be an extremely hard tone to make. And that is why, I suspect, that so few choose to make it. Pope Benedict, who is a remarkable man by all accounts, occupies a position of supreme importance. It speaks loudly of his courage and wisdom to be able to step down from it.
The impact of age is something that nobody wish to consider, and which the majority of those in the Western world choose to ignore if they can. That's a luxury, sort of, of our modern societies. It wasn't always the case by any means. It is not true that "humans are living longer" as it is often claimed, as we've commented on before. The upper limits of people's lives have not changed at all over the centuries. What has changed, however, is that more people make it into advanced old age than before, as fewer people die earlier from accidents and disease.
That's a good thing, and there can be no doubt about that, but what it also means is that more people now experience the impacts of advanced old age than they once did. That's not necessarily bad, but a person should be realistic.
For many people, perhaps most people, that means that they suffer the aches, pains, and infirmities that advanced old age can bring on. A few amazingly lucky people seem to be spared that, but not most. But, if a person can be so afflicted, but retain a sharp mind, they are blessed. Others, of course, are afflicted with the diseases and afflictions of memory and thought, which is a scary thing to watch and endure, and which no doubt is hard for a person to experience. We here are watching that ourselves, as my mother, a person of high intelligence, has been slowly descending into the fog, while her physical abilities slowly decline, all seemingly without her own knowledge of it.
These are things that seem to take us by surprise, and which most people choose to believe that they will never endure. But many do.
This brings up the post I made recently entitled: Lex Anteinternet: A legal Gerontocracy?: In that entry I noted that Wyoming's legislature, putting a rosy face on aging, is looking at ending the statutory retirement age of 70. Of interest, Pope Benedict, who is the oldest man to have ever been made Pope was 78 when he assumed the Papacy. A realist, he determined during his Papacy that members of the College of Cardinals over 70 would no longer be able to vote on the question of who would become Pope, and he commented from time to time that if he was unable to effectively occupy the office, he would resign. He has now determined to do so.
What the Pope understands, but he Legislature seemingly does not, is that people living on in greater numbers to advanced old age does not mean that everyone will be able to physically do the job, and that there needs to be a formal procedure in regards to that. Contrary to what so many seem to assume, it has not been the case that the Papacy was occupied "old men." I don't know the median age upon their deaths (which in the first 500 years of the Papacy was often by execution) but I'd guess it to be in their 40s. A person may ask what that has to do with the judiciary, but I suspect that the average age of Wyoming judge leaving the bench is younger than a person might presume. In earlier years, judges tended to leave the bench young enough, in many instances, to resume practice or to go on to other offices or their private businesses, if they owned farms and ranches.
In recent years judges have often been staying until their 70, although there are some admirable contrary examples. Judge Downes, of the Federal District Court in Wyoming, retired at about age 65, even though he was in a position where he had a lifetime appointment. Just very recently a 7th Judicial District state judge in his mid 60s announced his retirement. A very long serving 7th Judicial District Judge, Judge Spangler, retired in what seemed to be his 50s, meaning that he must have gone on the bench very young. The point here is that all of these men exercised the decision to retire while they were still very much an intellectual force.
What the have chosen to do in their retirement and will choose to do is another topic, but I'd also note that one of the longest serving judges at the time he retired, Judge Hartman, went right into critical roles with the state government under Judge Freudenthal. The point being that, here too, Judge Hartman's intellect remained a force, and he wasn't fearful of putting himself into a new role where he'd have to be, essentially, hired. I suspect, although its' just a guess, that this is what we'll see with Pope Benedict, who remains a very strong intellectual force. Indeed, the model for this would be Pope Celestine, who came from monastic life but who had a great intellect. He resigned afters some years hoping to return to the monastery, but he never made, as his successor kept in Rome to consult with.
This all contrasts with the situation in which a person can occupy a position indefinitely simply by occupying it, and that's what removing the age 70 retirement requirement in Wyoming would do. No doubt proponents of changing the law would note that judges stand for retention, but most people know very little about their local judges and routinely vote to retain them unless there's some criminal case whose outcome they disagree with. In other words, it would be unlikely that the voters would choose to retire a judge unless things became very bad. And for those who remain intellectually active, it is not as if there is not other work for them to do.
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