When Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Christoph Schönborn on Jan. 22, the curtain came down on an ecclesial career of a churchman who played an outsized role in the last three papacies and whose ability to adjust almost seamlessly to those three very different popes was a hallmark of his legacy and longevity.
Prior to his impressive 30-year tenure as Archbishop of Vienna, the Austrian Dominican studied theology in Germany under then Fr. Joseph Ratzinger and would later be described as a spiritual son of the future pope.
During the papacy of Pope John Paul II, Schönborn was tasked with the enormous responsibility of editing the official Catechism of the Catholic Church. Over the course of the last three pontificates, he was appointed a member of almost every Vatican department and was a delegate at numerous synods. And at various points during this time, Schönborn has been floated as a possible successor to each of the three popes he’s served under.
When the Vatican daily bulletin arrived last week — making official what everyone expected — that on his 80th birthday, Francis was relieving Schönborn of his duties and allowing him to begin his retirement, I thought back to another scene from the very beginning of this papacy.
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With thanks to National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Christopher White, where this article originally appeared.
