I wonder if the young Joseph
Ratzinger, during the testing years of his teenage education in Bavaria, ever
had the chance to read any Shakespeare.

The Nazis used to go
big on Shakespeare, although a certain amount of rewriting went on to reinforce
the Bard’s commitment to Hitler’s way of thinking.

King Lear seems
to have been popular. One count has suggested there were four productions in
Germany in the year before Hitler became Chancellor, but more than 130 in the
two years afterwards.

The teenage Joseph
might however have been a bit otherwise occupied, what with being forced into
the Hitler Youth, and then into an anti-aircraft detachment, and then
deserting, and then becoming a prisoner of war.

Students of
the period will remember that, broadly, German Roman Catholics did not approve
of the Nazis and Hitler did his best to do their church down. Literature may
not have been the first priority of the Ratzinger family.

After the war
Joseph devoured theology on his way to the priesthood and a professorship at
Germany’s pre-eminent Catholic university. His learning is impressively deep
and wide.

But did he
ever read King Lear?

I have to say
that, after the events of this week, I don’t think so.

The 85-year-old
Pope Benedict XVI announced on Monday: ‘I have
come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer
suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.’

He wants an end to his burden, and freedom from the managerial duties he finds
difficult, and a release from coping with the squabbles and intrigues of his
cardinals and archbishops. He wants to hand over his responsibilities and go to
live peacefully and without care in his own quarter of the Vatican, surrounded
by his own loved and trusted staff.

True, Benedict has no daughters. But, for those who have come across Lear and
his troubles, doesn’t the rest of what is happening in Rome look familiar?

Shock and confusion among the nobles, friend and foe. A power struggle.
Questions about what to do with an old ruler who has made himself a spare part.

They are already talking about putting pressure on Benedict to find somewhere
to live outside the Vatican, because it might be embarrassing for the new Pope
to have him around.

Benedict does see things in managerial terms. ‘In today’s world, subject to so
many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of
faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both
strength of mind and body are necessary,’ he said.

But the Roman Catholic church isn’t a Government department, or a big charity,
or a multi-national company. It isn’t a car that needs a driver who can
concentrate, steer and brake. It is a very ancient institution, to which 1.2
billion faithful are bound by unfathomably deep ties of loyalty, trust and
belief.

Such organisations do not operate in the same semi-rational manner as, say, Age
UK or the NSPCC. You only have to look at our own tame, domesticated and
supposedly rational Church of England to work that out.

It
does not take more than a brief acquaintance with the CofE and its ways to see
that, for all the we-are-all-guiltying and the professions of concern about
poverty and climate change and so on, there are Anglican leaders who would like
to burn their enemies at the stake, if only the law still allowed it.

Churches are based on history and belief, not on account books or annual
targets, and they are run by human beings who, however well meaning, are fallen
and, excepting the Pope, fallible. Personally, I realised this the day I was
lied to by an Archbishop of Canterbury.

The
Papacy resembles nothing so much as an imperial monarchy. Does the Queen look
ready to abdicate, and, if she did, would it be a good thing? Despite his
lawful right to resign, the Pope is not a chief executive. This is why none has
resigned in 600 years, and only one has ever quit voluntarily, and, by the way,
that didn’t end well.

The problem is, the world needs the Roman Catholic church. There are very few
people, even among Catholics, who accept every word of the doctrines and
teachings to which it demands obedience.

But
the point is that the church does think there are truths that do not change
from year to year, and it stands out against a culture in which right and wrong
shift about depending on which victimised pressure group is in fashion this
week.

However much secular campaigners may mock and condemn religion, a faith which
makes sacrifice its supreme virtue and puts limits on its aspirations to
political power is not a bad thing to have around.

I hope Benedict is not a foolish, fond old man, and that his resignation brings
the benefits he intends to the church. The last thing the world needs now is a
Roman Catholic church ripped by civil war.