Institutions as old as the Roman Catholic Church tend not to react well to sudden changes.

Sudden changes include scientific evidence proving the world orbits the sun, the growing social acceptance of homosexuality and the resignation of the Holy See his own self.

Pope Benedict XVI’s Feb. 11 announcement shocked the world at large. The last pope who left voluntarily did so in the year 1415. Most students at Santa Rosa Junior College have only known two popes in their lifetime. Pope John Paul II famously told critics advocating his early resignation that “Christ did not step down from the Cross.” That his immediate successor admits he no longer has the strength to continue as God’s earthly representative is refreshing.

Benedict hoped to retire from his clerical duties without taking on the papal mantle.  Although he held strict conservative interpretations of scripture during his years of service as a cardinal, Benedict rarely acted on his views, practices he continued in his papacy.  The bookish pope who didn’t really want the job has left quite a mess for his replacement.

Never mind the staggering, sickening number of sexual abuse cases; the greater horror comes from realizing how far up the rosary chain blind eyes turned away from the suffering and the measures taken to hide the issue.

The church has also shown a deaf ear to women’s voices, even from in its own ranks. The Vatican recently reproached the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the largest organization of nuns in the United States, for straying from church doctrine on birth control and family planning.

No one can call the Vatican’s historical position on homosexuality progressive, but during Benedict’s tenure it published a document forbidding the ordination of gay clergymen. During the same time period, countries known for their large Catholic populations, including Spain, Portugal and Argentina, legalized same-sex marriages.

As the world’s cultures have grown more progressive, the Roman Catholic Church has at best stagnated. The conclave of cardinals set to pick the new pope has a chance to bring some reform to the old dogma.  The church cannot afford another man with Benedict’s reluctance to take on the administrative challenges facing the church. It needs a leader willing to address the rampant abuse and cover-ups. Someone who won’t make decisions about what a woman can do for her health without perhaps consulting a few women first. Ideally, a man who can accept gays and lesbians as people rather than aberrations against God’s natural order.

The conclave will elect this pope – eventually. Before that, they will pick somebody with wings, blue skin and a third eye.

As much as it might help the church, many of the eligible cardinals come from the same mold as the popes who raised them to the position – namely, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

It’s hard to break centuries of tradition. Just ask Pope Benedict – for Lent, he’s giving up his job.