Papal Qualities

Most books and treatises that have been written about popes have focused on the nature and the extent of papal authority, what a pope can properly govern. Far fewer are about how a pope should govern and what sort of qualities a cardinal should have to be worthy of the papacy. What sources we have are telling.

The bishop of Rome is the successor to St. Peter, not to Christ; he is the Vicar of Christ on earth, not a substitute for Him. Consequently, the figure of St. Peter in Sacred Scripture can teach us much about the qualities necessary for a virtuous pope. After His Resurrection, Jesus approached Peter, who had betrayed Him, and asked, “Do you love me?” He then commanded the apostle, “Tend my sheep, feed my sheep” (see Jn 21:15-17). These words manifest some of the fundamental virtues necessary in the heart of a future pope. A pope should be one whose love for Christ extends to all the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, the “flock” of which Christ is the Good Shepherd. Unlike a politician whose focus is exclusively on this life, a pope’s primary role is helping to shepherd millions of souls safely to the next. His charity, therefore, should be such that he can “tend” the flock through the kingly role of governance, and “feed” the sheep through the priestly role of sanctifying in the liturgy and through the prophetic role of teaching sound doctrine.¹ St. Peter offers a development of these themes, exhorting those ordained to the priesthood, “Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory” (1 Pet 5:2-4). In addition, the pope, as one who will be girded by another and carried to places he does not wish to go, must be humble and docile to the plans of divine providence (Jn 21:18). As successor to Peter, the “rock” upon whom the visible Church was founded (Mt 16:18), the Roman pontiff needs to be strong in character and in faith. As one who holds the “keys to the kingdom of heaven,” who can “bind and loose” (Mt 16:19), the pope is to be one who judges justly, tempered with mercy, in light of the true good of souls and their eternal salvation. He is also to confirm the faithful in the Faith of the Church, handed down by tradition, and watch over respect for orthodoxy — duties that, in sum, amount to Peter’s primary role: to maintain the unity of the Church.

All people on earth are called to be saints, but sanctity is apportioned differently according to different vocations. When his monastic disciple was elected as Pope Eugenius III (1145), St. Bernard of Clairvaux decided to continue his instruction with a treatise on how to be a saintly pope, titled On Consideration. The Cistercian monk’s advice was to echo in the ears of popes throughout the centuries. Benedict XIV (1740-58) appraised the treatise so highly that he considered it to be the rule by which papal sanctity is measured, and in his treatise on the canonization of saints he summarized the “golden advice” of St. Bernard.² The chief points, which follow, give a clue as to what to look for in cardinals considered papabile.

The pope must not be wholly absorbed in activity but should remember that his principal work is to edify the Church, to pray, and to teach the people.
Above all other virtues, a pope must cultivate humility: “By the amount you are raised above others, even more should your humility be manifest.”³
A pope’s zeal should regard his personal sanctity, and not worldly honors.
A pope should have friends known for their goodness.
Because power structures more easily receive good men than make men good, the pope should strive to promote those who have proven virtue.
In dealing with the wicked, the pope should turn his face against them: “Let him dread the spirit of your anger who is not afraid of man. Let him dread your prayers who has despised your admonition.”⁴

Benedict XIV notes a seventh characteristic, underlined by the Council of Trent:

A pope should choose cardinals from the men most eminent in learning and virtue, ones who are good and well-qualified pastors.⁵

From St Robert Bellarmine, himself a cardinal, this lesson results:

A pope should appoint good bishops, see that they fulfill their duties, and, if necessary, compel them.

Finally, from the ancient oath that popes would make upon assuming the office of the bishop of Rome, more may be learned:

Popes are to have zeal for the propagation of the Catholic Faith, for the encouragement and restoration of ecclesiastical discipline, and the defense of the rights of the Holy See.

Seeing the great virtue necessary for a man to be a good and holy pontiff, St Robert Bellarmine lamented on April 25, 1605, before a conclave, that he could not think of a single candidate who was suited to become bishop of Rome. He wrote in a private letter:

We are about to enter into a conclave again, and we have need of much prayer, for I do not see a single person in the Sacred College [of Cardinals] that possesses the qualities [necessary]. And what is worse, no one is looking for such a person. It seems to me that for the Vicar of Christ, we are not looking for someone who knows the will of God, that is, who is well-versed in Sacred Scripture; instead [we are looking] only for one who knows the will of Justinian [the legislator] and other similar authors. We are looking for a good temporal prince, not a holy bishop who truly spends himself for the good of souls.⁶

In light of this dismal outlook, one might wonder what role the Holy Spirit plays in all of this. Certainly divine help is invoked before voting, but is each pope truly “God’s choice”? Shortly after the publication of John Paul II’s new rules regarding papal elections, this question was put to Cardinal Ratzinger. He replied:

I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the pope. . . . I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined.

With historical realism, he concluded: “There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not have picked!”

One old saying about papal elections is that a “fat pope follows a thin one,” meaning a newly elected pontiff will probably be the opposite in vision to his predecessor, or perhaps more liberal than the conservative pope he replaces, and vice versa. Another old saying about conclaves is that a man who walks into a conclave as pope leaves as cardinal. In other words, expectations are often overturned. Even the fact that a pope appoints the large majority of cardinals does not guarantee that they will elect someone like him; sometimes to the contrary. Whoever may be chosen, and however much or little the cardinal-electors listen to God in their choice, the man becomes pope at the moment he verbally accepts their vote. Shortly thereafter, the senior cardinal-deacon announces to the world:

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; (I announce to you a great joy)
habemus Papam! (we have a pope!)

1
All bishops should have these qualities, but the pope preeminently: “By divine institution, Bishops succeed the Apostles through the Holy Spirit who is given to them. They are constituted pastors in the Church, to be teachers of doctrine, and the priests of sacred worship and the ministers of governance” (CIC/83 can. 375).
2
See Benedetto XIV (Prosper Lambertini), De Servorum Dei Beatificatione et Beatorum Canonizatione (La beatificazione dei Servi di Dio e la Canonizzazione dei Beati III/2) (Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2017), no. 3, pp. 51-55. In English: Benedict XIV, On Heroic Virtue: A Portion of the Treatise of Benedict XIV on the Beatification and Canonization of the Servants of God, vol. 2, (London: Thomas Richardson and Son, 1851), no. 3, pp. 97-100.
3
Bernard, In libris de consideratione, lib. 2, c. 6, col. 246, no. 13. In English: Saint Bernard: On Consideration, trans. George Lewis (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1908). This was clearly stated in the phrase used during the former ceremony of papal enthronement: Sic transit gloria mundi (1409-1963).
4
Ibid., lib. 4, c. 4, col. 450.
5
See Trent, Session 24, in decreto Reform., c. 1.
6
Quoted in Peter Godman, The Saint as Censor: Robert Bellarmine between Inquisition and Index (Leiden: Brill Academic, 2000), 190n139. My translation.

Papal Qualities

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