Let us begin with a clear and straightforward question: Was Benedict XVI’s pontificate a success or a failure? What does “success” or “failure” mean when it comes to a pontificate? It’s impossible to give a short, simple answer. I can only go back to an event that took place over a thousand years ago.

Gregory VII, a zealous, reforming pope who confronted major crises in the Church in the eleventh century, died in exile in Salerno. His pontificate seemed to end in failure. And yet it was the most important pontificate of the entire second millennium. It gave later Christianity its character and left a permanent imprint on the exercise of church governance. Benedict XVI was not in exile, but he was hidden from the world. … 

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