EDITORIAL – Stronger in faith

Pope Benedict XVI is now officially resigned. He bade farewell to his eight-year pontificate in a way that’s historic and Church-shaking.
The wait for the new Pope begins today and in three days the earliest, the chosen one should be named.
What is in store for the Roman Catholic Church now that Pope Benedict, a known conservative pontiff, has left the papacy with some questions left hanging in the minds of the 1.2 billion Catholics around the world. Once more, the hallowed walls of the Vatican has kept the real horrors under the lid. But unlike before, even the closed chambers have leaks and what came out were not necessarily encouraging.
Even the word coined for the rumored Vatican scandal has earned a notorious name Vatileaks. That is utterly disrespectful for such a holy institution as the Vatican and for a representative of the Church considered as the living Apostle and fisher of men.
Yesterday in his outgoing address in front of 150,000 people in St Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict XVI admitted there had been times when “it seemed like the Lord was sleeping” during his crisis-hit papacy.
There had been moments of joy during his tenure and at the same time “stormy waters and headwinds” that had left the church in difficulty.
Despite the troubles, Benedict XVI felt God would not let the church “sink.” That is the message that the resigned Pope left the Catholic world.
The significance of Benedict’s message is what matters for the future of the Church—faith in God. Strong faith, that is. It is not important now what the smoke of the so-called Vatileaks will bring. We know for a fact that a secret, like smoke, cannot be kept forever. But for now, let us wait for the white smoke of hope that will come out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in the next few days.