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The sudden and unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013 broke a centuries-old tradition within Roman Catholicism of service-until-death of its top leader. If, as many expect, Pope Francis I eventually follows Benedict's lead, it is likely that a new and enduring tradition will have been effected.1 The astounding transformation of the Roman Catholic Church under the younger and energized Francis underscores the importance of Benedict's courageous decision.
Of the major Western religious traditions in the United States, only The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints retains the service-until-death policy for its top leader. For more than a century following its founding in 1830, longevity was such that physical or mental incapacitation were not a significant issue. Medical science was not sufficiently advanced to be able to prolong life once a terminal illness began, and lifespan was not sufficiently long that age-related dementia was significant, if even present. However, advances in medicine have increased lifespan without concomitantly avoiding age-associated medical issues, most notably dementia. This has created a problem for Church leadership since policy holds that members of the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency (together abbreviated Q15) serve for life2 and that upon the death of a sitting Church president his successor is the senior member of the Q15.
Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) was the exception among recent presidents of the LDS Church. In full command of his faculties at age ninety-seven, he paused while writing, by hand, a sermon at his office, noting to his secretary that he was not feeling well. He returned to his apartment earlier than usual, leaving the sermon unfinished, and three days later died peacefully at home. For half-a-century prior to President Hinckley's death, however, the transition from one Church president to the next was often characterized by long periods of decline in the physical and/or mental health of the sitting president; and, upon his death, the succession of a man of increasingly advanced age. Although a gradual shift of administrative oversight from the First Presidency (composed of the president and two assistants) to the Quorum of the Twelve, which began at the death of David O. McKay in 1970, lessened the impact on day-to-day church function of an ailing president, several episodes during...