One of the surprises from the papal election was the age of Pope Francis. From the media, to vaticanistas, to the expectation of many Catholics \u2013 many speculated on a younger man being elected. At work I was asked about the Pope\u2019s age and one person said \u201ccouldn\u2019t they find someone younger?\u201d I also bought into the expectation of somebody relatively younger somewhere in the sixties or very early seventies.<\/p>\n
In some ways it is surprising that a man only two years younger than Pope Benedict XVI was elected. The pope\u2019s resignation due to age you would have thought would have weighed more in the thinking of the cardinal-electors. Perhaps though Benedict\u2019s resignation might have actually provided a way forward for the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. That resignation due to age is now more opened up and age might now be less of a consideration than at one time. Historically the large majority of papacies has been 10 years or fewer. Blessed John Paul II\u2019s length as pope is really a historical oddity, although occurring more in the last two centuries such as with Pius IX and Leo XIII. Advances in medicine will certainly skew this over time.<\/p>\n
It is not surprising the desire for a younger physically active pope. Considering that in most cultures now there is a worship of youth and a more slanted view towards the elderly. The celebrity focused culture puts a shorter shelf life on people\u2019s attention and aging gracefully now means keeping up with the latest injections and surgery. We don\u2019t want to look at the ravages of age because we don\u2019t want to think about our own. Ironically the Culture of Death really does not want to think about their own inevitable demise. The wisdom that age can bring is not a commodity we much care about.<\/p>\n