In the 728 years that have passed since St Celestine established this legal precedent, the right of a pope to resign remains ensured in church law.

The law is not very detailed, saying only that the decision must be made freely and "duly manifested". No one needs to formally accept a pope's resignation for it to be valid.

The canonist Geraldina Boni told Catholic News Service, "It is no longer inconceivable for a pope to resign, with this door having been ‘opened,' as Francis himself has said several times".

However, she added "this situation must be regulated".

Boni also suggested the need to regulate issues such as what to do when a pope is unable to govern the universal church when he is completely, permanently and irreversibly impeded or impaired because of a debilitating illness or other conditions.

Boni and other canonists launched a project in 2021 to draft legislative proposals that could be studied and discussed on an online platform. The aim is to present the suggestions to "the supreme legislator", the pope, for his consideration.

One of the proposals is on the legal status or "canonical condition of the bishop of Rome who resigned his office."

Many of the suggestions mirror the approaches taken by retired Pope Benedict.

For example, the proposal says "the manifestation of the resignation must preferably be put into writing and ordinarily presented in a consistory of the College of Cardinals or in another way that makes it publicly knowable".

However, some of the suggestions depart from Pope Benedict's actions, the biggest of which is the retired pope's title.

Instead of "pope emeritus," the proposal says the retired pontiff "receives the title of bishop emeritus of Rome," and he "uses the ring that every bishop must wear". Photos of the retired Pope show him wearing the cardinal's ring.

"The bishop emeritus of Rome does not assume or regain the dignity of cardinal nor the functions that are attached to it," the proposal says. It added, "However, in liturgical and canonical matters, the bishop emeritus of Rome has the privileges and faculties attributed to cardinals".

Cardinal-designate Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a Jesuit theologian and canon lawyer, said "Having two people with the title of ‘pope,' even if one added 'emeritus,' it cannot be said that this might not generate confusion in public opinion".

The idea of more than one pope at one time "dangerously mixes up the precise meaning of the Petrine ministry. Which is that of being a sign of unity of the church, therefore, one sign of unity of the church," he said in his talk.

Boni told CNS, "We will see if the work done by us university professors has been considered — even in criticising it or departing from it — by the eventual drafters of any papal legislation".

"Certainly, the wide debate that has built up on the issue has helped dismantle a taboo that had no reason to exist," she said of laws on the status of a retired pope.

Sources

• CruxNow

Lombardi, who was Benedict's spokesman, denied Italian Archbishop Luigi Negri's claim that Benedict was forced to resign.

However according to Negri, Benedict's resignation was as a result of "tremendous pressure" being put upon him.

The Obama administration has been implicated in the pressures that forced his resignation.

Lombardi said Benedict must be taken at his word when he said he had stepped down "in full freedom and responsibility.

"Benedict XVI is a man who put the truth first. How can someone so blatantly contradict what he said and then solemnly reaffirmed?" Lombardi asked.

Despite Lombardi's clear rebuttal, Negri is sticking to his view.

"I am certain that the truth will emerge one day showing grave liability both inside and outside the Vatican," he said.

"It is no coincidence that in America, even on the basis of what has been published by Wikileaks, some Catholic groups have asked President Trump to open a commission of inquiry to investigate whether the administration of Barack Obama exerted pressure on Benedict." he said.

Negri believes "those responsible [for forcing Benedict's resignation] will be found out."

Source

• Breitbart
• LifeSite
• Image: OnePeterFive

Take four of his last decisions, for example.

1) Nine months after the sacking of the President of the scandal-ridden Vatican bank, he appoints a new President: a lay man and a non-Italian.

2) He appoints a man of promise to a diplomatic post in a Latin American country, freeing him from the pecking-order syndrome of the Vatican Curia.

3) He changes the rules for the running of the Conclave, reducing the chances of external or internal pressure on the voting Cardinals, and ensuring that something closer to a consensus can be achieved.

4) He accepts the resignation of a Cardinal Archbishop from his post, and without hesitation accepts his offer not to attend the conclave.

These decisions range from the surprising to the dramatic. All are worth "reading" carefully.

Worth reading carefully, too, are his last three speeches.

In his last public audience on Wednesday it seemed that Joseph Ratzinger the simple believer was speaking heart-to-heart to the people. He was applauded at length when he spoke of the Church as "not an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters …."

The following day, in his speech to the Cardinals, he seemed to want to turn their attention to the events of the previous day. Once again, he reminded them that "the Church is not an institution devised and built at a desk, but a living reality."

In his final appearance on the balcony of his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo he had the look of someone deeply at peace. His last public gesture was a master of understatement. With a smile and a friendly wave, he simply wished the people "Buona notte - goodnight" and disappeared into silence.

Source

Fr Craig Larkin, a New Zealand priest living in Rome.

He was joined in the Italian government chopper by his personal secretary and assistant secretary, his personal physician, his new valet and an official of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household.

Joining the Swiss Guards in the courtyard were dozens of bishops, monsignors, priests, nuns and laypeople who work in the Vatican Secretariat of State and other offices nearby.

The pope greeted his vicars for Vatican City and Rome — Cardinals Angelo Comastri and Agostino Vallini — before using his to cane walk down a few steps into the courtyard. He was greeted with applause.

As soon as the pope's car pulled away, the bells of St. Peter's Basilica began tolling their farewell. Driven to the helipad in the Vatican Gardens, his flight to Castel Gandolfo began at 5:07 p.m.

The pope arrived in a helicopter from the Vatican and rode by car through the fields and formal gardens of the papal villa before reaching the residence.

As soon as he entered the residence, the pope went upstairs and, standing on the balcony overlooking the main square, he greeted the crowd.

"Dear friends, I am happy to be with you, surrounded by the beauty of creation and by your friendship, which does me such good," he told them.

"You know that for me, today is different than the days that have gone before. You know that I am no longer supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church — until 8 o'clock I will be, but not after that."

"I am a simple pilgrim who begins the last stage of his pilgrimage on this earth," he told them. "But with all my heart, with all my love, with my prayers, with my reflection, with all my interior strength, I still want to work for the common good and the good of the church and humanity," he told them.

Pope Benedict thanked the people for their support and asked them to continue to pray and work for the good of the church, too.

"With all my heart, I impart my blessing," he told them, before giving a simple blessing, in Italian, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Just after the pope arrived, two Swiss Guards stood at the main doors of the residence and two more stood just inside. They closed the doors at 8am New Zealand time and returned to the Vatican, since their job is to guard the pope.

Sede Vacante, the seat of Peter is now vacant.

Earlier in the day Benedict met with all the Cardinals and vowed "unconditional obedience" to his successor.

"Among you there is also the future pope, to whom I promise my unconditional obedience and reverence... Let the Lord reveal the one he has chosen," he said.

Sources

• CNS
• CNS
• Sky News

Talking from the Vatican to Garth Bray on TVNZ Breakfast, Fr Duckworth qualified his remarks by saying he didn't think it would be an easy job.

Echoing Benedict's comments in his final message, that whoever succeeds him "no longer has any privacy", Duckworth said his parents were also 85 and are having to cope with the earthquakes in Christchurch, but they don't have to get up every day and look good in public.

"They deserve a rest, and he deserves a rest too", Fr Duckworth told TVNZ.

Responding to a question about the resignation of Scotland's Cardinal O'Brien, Fr Duckworth told TVNZ that "none of us is perfect, but that if you stand up in public and say this is what the Church teaches, you need to be reasonably kosher".

"All of us put to scrutiny can find ourselves in difficultly," he said.

"Even the media can find itself under difficulty, as say the BBC has recently, with exactly the same issue. And what did they do? Cover it up".

"It's a natural thing to try and do, but I don't think it works," Duckworth said.

Duckworth suggested the "Great Pope" John XXIII had a solution; to open the windows and let the air in, that's what fixes things.

Saying he was astounded with the energy that a man in his late 70's initially brought to the task, Duckworth commented that eight years later he's obviously feeling his age, and that in his opinion, it is fair enough for the 85 year old Benedict to recognise he doesn't have the necessary energy to deal with all the issues he needs to deal with.

Asked whether people in New Zealand are watching and following this event, he suggested different popes, with their different approaches and personalities, reach out to different people, and he thought New Zealander's generally have an affection for this pope.

"I personally liked John XXIII and Paul VI. They come and go, some are favoured by everyone, some by few, we just live in the hope the next one will be favoured by many," said Duckworth.

Source:

• TVNZ Breakfast (Video)

Saying farewell to a Pope who hasn't actually died makes this experience of farewell a rather unusual one - at least it hasn't happened for centuries.

Benedict has said clearly that he will spend the rest of his days "hidden from the world" and in prayer and silence. This has made me think a lot about the power of silence, and how it can be used for good or for harm.

Sadly, over centuries, the Vatican has developed the art of placing itself behind walls of secrecy, silence and anonymity. Silence has been used as an instrument of power, and with harmful effects.

Visits of inquiry into dioceses or into the conduct of Bishops in the dioceses have frequently been followed by no report; letters written by people to different Vatican departments often receive no reply or no acknowledgement; anonymity surrounds many of the accusations made about priests, religious or laypeople denounced to the Vatican; people called to explain themselves have often complained of not receiving the information they rightly deserve.

This silence is not the silence of professional confidentiality.

This is something else.

It's a bad way of dealing with people, and this sort of silence becomes an instrument which harms.

Tomorrow Benedict withdraws permanently into the shadows to live a life of prayer and silence. He probably won't be seen again or heard again; but no one can ignore him while he remains a silent presence in the heart of the Vatican which he found difficult to cleanse or govern.

This silence might well be an instrument of healing for the Church.

- Fr Craig Larkin s.m., who is based in Rome, writing exclusively for CathNews NZ Pacific

In an unusually personal address, the pope cited the biblical voyage of Jesus and the apostles on the Sea of Galilee, saying God had given him "so many days of sun and light breezes, when the fishing was abundant.

But there were times when the waters were choppy and there were headwinds, as throughout the history of the church, and it looked as if the Lord was sleeping.

But I have always known that the Lord was in that boat, that the boat was not mine or ours, but was his and he will not let it founder."

Explaining his decision to resign Benedict said: "To love the church also means having the courage to take difficult decisions, bearing always in mind the good of the church and not of oneself."

And, in an apparent message to his successor, said that whoever succeeds him "no longer has any privacy. He belongs forever and totally to everyone, to all the church."

Vatican officials said around 50,000 tickets had been requested for the occasion, which drew many more pilgrims into the broad boulevard leading toward the Vatican from the Tiber River. They estimate that 150,000 people, including around 70 cardinals in their crimson skullcaps, were packed into St Peter's Square.

"I've never felt lonely while carrying the burden and the joy of Peter's ministry," the pope also said. "Many people have helped me, the cardinals with their advice, wisdom and friendship, my collaborators starting with the state secretary and the whole Curia, many of whom lend their service in the background, and all of you," he said.

Sources

• Reuters
• The Guardian
• NY Times
• Aljazeezra

In bright winter sunshine, the 85-year-old German Pope was driven around St Peter's Square in a white Mercedes jeep.

During the course of the journey, the frail Pope Benedict waved to the 150,000 strong crowd and and even kissed a baby presented to him.

In return his supporters cheered, applauded and held banners aloft.

As the crowds waved flags from dozens of countries, the Popemobile, with the registration number SCV1 for Stato Della Citta del Vaticano (Vatican City State), drove him up an incline to a stage placed in front of the main entrance of St Peter's Basilica.

As he was driven through the square he was flanked by tight security.

As he began to speak, the crowd broke into chants of "Benedetto, Benedetto"

"I will continue to accompany the Church with my prayers, and I ask each of you to pray for me and for the new Pope", Benedict told the crowd.

He was given a standing ovation at the end of the address, with Catholic faithful waving banners which said "Grazie Santo Padre!" — Thank You Holy Father.

On Thursday, the pope will meet with cardinals for the final time and then fly by helicopter to Castel Gandolfo, the papal residence south of Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI will greet parishioners there from the palazzo's balcony, his final public act as pope, before his retirement officially begins at 8pm local time.

Pell criticised the outgoing Pope, saying that despite being a great theologian and a brilliant teacher, governance and government wasn't his strong point.

"He's got to know his theology, but I think I'd prefer... someone who can lead the church and pull it together a bit," Pell said.

The Cardinal also criticised Benedict's retirement, saying it leaves future Pontiffs vulnerable.

"People who might for example disagree with a future pope, whether they mount a campaign to get him to resign."

Perhaps even more controversial, Pell told Seven News that sex abuse is not the biggest problem confronting the Church.

Despite all the controversies, Cardinal Pell said that the loss of belief and believers was the greatest challenge facing the Church.

"No, no, I think [the biggest problem] is the spread of unbelief in the first world," the Cardinal said.

Pell, did not not rule himself out as a future pontiff admitting it was a possibility, but unlikely.

Sources

• Yahoo News
• The Age (image)

I offer a warm and affectionate greeting to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors who have joined me for this, my last General Audience.

Like Saint Paul, whose words we heard earlier, my heart is filled with thanksgiving to God who ever watches over his Church and her growth in faith and love, and I embrace all of you with joy and gratitude.

During this Year of Faith, we have been called to renew our joyful trust in the Lord's presence in our lives and in the life of the Church. I am personally grateful for his unfailing love and guidance in the eight years since I accepted his call to serve as the Successor of Peter.

I am also deeply grateful for the understanding, support and prayers of so many of you, not only here in Rome, but also throughout the world. The decision I have made, after much prayer, is the fruit of a serene trust in God's will and a deep love of Christ's Church.

I will continue to accompany the Church with my prayers, and I ask each of you to pray for me and for the new Pope.

In union with Mary and all the saints, let us entrust ourselves in faith and hope to God, who continues to watch over our lives and to guide the journey of the Church and our world along the paths of history.

I commend all of you, with great affection, to his loving care, asking him to strengthen you in the hope which opens our hearts to the fullness of life that he alone can give. To you and your families, I impart my blessing.

Thank you!

Monsignor Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said Feb. 23 the Twitter account was created for the Pope's "exclusive use."

In a statement published by Vatican Radio, he said the account will be inactive during the interim "sede vacante" period between the Feb. 28 resignation of Pope Benedict and the election of a new Pope.

Many media outlets misinterpreted an earlier account from Vatican Radio and reported that the Vatican would be shutting down its ten-week-old effort on the social media site.

Source

• CNA

The retired pope will continue to be addressed as "Your Holiness," but be referred to as "His Holiness Benedict XVI".

In addition, Benedict will lay aside the red "shoes of the fisherman" that have been part of his papal attire and wear brown loafers given to him by shoemakers during a trip to Leon, Mexico last year.

He will wear a "simple white cassock", Lombardi said.

Benedict's lead seal and his ring of office, known as the "ring of the fisherman", will be destroyed according to Church rules, just as if he had died.

Sources

• Reuters

The assessments of his papacy have so far focused on Benedict's statements on homosexuality, contraception and other controversial church teachings.

This helps us locate him (and the church) on a familiar political spectrum but tells us little beyond the fact that the Pope is a faithful Catholic. After all, these are not "policies" that a future pope can change with a pen stroke.

If we really want to understand Benedict's papacy, we have to understand the wrecked church he inherited and his limited powers within it.

Although The New York Times describes him as a "profoundly conservative" figure, Joseph Ratzinger made his first impression as a member of good standing in the liberal wing of "periti" (experts) at the Second Vatican Council during the early 1960s.

He wore a suit and tie rather than a clerical collar to the proceedings. He was given to the bold - and often unsubstantiated - pronouncements of his generation of theologians.

The world celebrated the changes Ratzinger's cohort helped to effect at Vatican II. And the Vatican II reforms and the charged post-conciliar spirit were seen as the answer to a problem that was conspicuously on the mind of theologians and apologists since the late 19th century: How should the church engage with "modern man"?

Apparently, "modern man" was unimpressed by Vatican II.

He left the church.

After Catholic, "Ex-Catholic" has become the second largest "religious affiliation" in the US. In Europe, the decline is even more dramatic.

The meaning of the council itself became subjected to enormous debate within the church.

Was it the first opening of a new age in the church, where previously solid dogma about the Mass, the sacraments and the male priesthood would dissolve?

Or was it the disastrous rupture with the past that should be repudiated?

In 1972, Ratzinger founded the theological journal Communio with theologians who charted a course between those two poles.

Their position was that the Thomistic theology of the late 19th century was inadequate for the times but that the more radical theologians writing in the rival journal Concilium were throwing out the baby with the baptismal font.

By the time Benedict was elected pope in 2005, the church had gone aground. Pope John Paul II's papacy was the partial cause.

After a period of activity in the 1980s, the former actor's papacy consisted of enormously dramatic but unexplained gestures such as praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem or giving the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury a pectoral cross.

John Paul II either did not understand or denied the gravity of the child-abuse crisis. But his charismatic presence and the enormous goodwill towards the Parkinson's-afflicted pontiff overshadowed his failures of governance.

Of his papacy, one would say, he travelled while Rome burned.

That Ratzinger emerged to succeed him was a shock at the time but makes sense in retrospect. Continue reading

Communications Director, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, confirmed the possibility that the Pope was considering such a move.

The current law governs the norm when a pontiff dies, however by Benedict's retirement has raised new issues.

The main item to be addressed is the conclave's timing.

John Paul II's "Universi Dominici Gregis" established that it should not be sooner than 15 days after the death of the Pope, but the case of an abdication with advanced notice was not foreseen. There are also housekeeping items such as securing the Pope's belongings and other points of procedure, reports CNA.

Most of the cardinals who do not live in Rome will only begin arriving three days before Benedict resigns on February 28.

Before the conclave begins, the cardinals will hold a series of General Congregations, at which they will take up any administrative items, discuss the needs of the Church and talk about who can best respond to those needs as the next Pope.

Source: CNA

He had initiated a "Year of Faith" in October 2012; it would have made sense to leave his resignation till the end of the year of Faith.

He has completed two encyclicals - on Charity and on Hope. He was currently writing one on Faith. It might have seemed reasonable to finish this third encyclical before resigning.

But in the light of his recent speeches and homilies in which he calls the Church - from top to bottom - to a radical change of heart, it now seems obvious why he has selected the beginning of Lent to make his announcement, initiating the 40 days of penance and reflection on the Word of God.

A silence is already descending on the Vatican as he and the Cardinals of the Curia begin their annual retreat.

Benedict will make only two more public appearances: next Sunday at the traditional noon Angelus meeting, and on Wednesday February 27^th, when he will hold his final public meeting in St Peter's Square.

Since there is no funeral service to be held, nor any mandatory days of mourning before the Conclave, the lapse of time between Benedict's resignation and the election of a new pope can be short.

The 117 voting Cardinals will begin their pre-Conclave meetings soon after February 28^th. The Conclave could well start by March 10^th.

Though he will take no part in these general meetings, or in the Conclave itself, Benedict has already, through his homilies and speeches, sent out a message to the Conclave: no self-seeking, no divisions or cabals, and no splits within the Sistine Chapel!

Source:

• Fr. Craig Larkin s.m., who is based in Rome, writing exclusively for CathNews NZ Pacific

In reality it's one of the most serious security breaches in modern Vatican history.

But the real scandal is not the crime of the Butler.

The real scandal is what the leaked documents reveal: administrative chaos, lack of communication, financial mismanagement, intrigue, ambition and factional fighting at the highest level of the Roman Curia.

The culture which enabled the "Vatileaks" scandal to happen has been exposed. It's a ball of wool that's almost impossible to untangle - even by a pope. Something is very wrong inside the Vatican and its system. Plainly, we're talking of systemic dysfunctioning.

A bad system makes good people do bad things.

Cardinals outside the Vatican Curia have expressed their concerns. In June 2012 the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris called for "a reform of the Curia which is unsuitable for the present-day Church." A year earlier the Cardinal Archbishop of Austria said, "It is no secret that the Roman Curia is in urgent need of reform."

The Pope's last speeches have been loaded with words of warning against the very attitudes that have been exposed in the "Vatileaks" scandal.

Vatican observers have been quick to notice that Benedict's last morning in office will be spent with the three senior Cardinals who investigated the affair, and who have prepared a tell-all report on the issue. Many people may want to turn the page on this moment; but it seems that one of Benedict's last gestures will be to ensure that the book remains open until the inner workings of the Vatican can be reformed, root and branches.

Source

Fr Craig Larkin is a New Zealand priest who lives in Rome

To applause and cheering from the crowd, he said he had been "called" by God to devote himself to a quiet life of prayer and reflection.

"But this doesn't mean abandoning the church," he told the crowds packed into St Peter's.

Benedict said he would "continue to serve it (the Church) with the same dedication and the same love which I have tried to do so until now, but in a way more suitable to my age and to my strength."

The 'Angelus' address was Benedict's penultimate public appearance as Pope - on Wednesday he will take part in a general audience in St Peter's Square which is expected to draw even bigger crowds.

Source:

• The Telegraph

"If in the past, the so-called powers, i.e., States, exerted pressures on the election of the Pope, today there is an attempt to do this through public opinion," read a statement from the Vatican Secretariat of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

"It is deplorable that as we draw closer to the time of the beginning of the Conclave and the Cardinal electors will be held in conscience and before God, to freely indicate their choice, that there be a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories, that cause serious damage to persons and institutions," the statement said.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi dismissed the newspaper articles as "gossip, disinformation and sometimes calumny" the reports, which are linked to an investigation by a committee of cardinals last year over a series of damaging leaks of confidential papal documents.

The stories in question have focused on individual cardinals linked to sex-abuse scandals, but the major headache comes from claims that Benedict's resignation is linked to a special dossier prepared by a trio of cardinals appointed by the pope last year to investigate the papal letter-leaking scandal known as Vatileaks.

The left-leaning daily la Repubblica asserted that the cardinals' report revealed how laymen had blackmailed Vatican officials to whom they had links of a "worldly nature."

Benedict's health is progressively deteriorating, and the 85-year-old pontiff often has problems sleeping, reports the veteran Vatican journalist.

Tosatti notes Benedict has fallen out of bed several times on recent trips abroad, and his doctor had advised him against making the overseas flight to Brazil for World Youth Day this summer.

The report was based on indiscretions from papal aides and is similar to one, reported in CathNews earlier in the week, by German journalist, Peter Seewald.

Seewald says Benedict's hearing is declining, he is going blind in one eye and is losing weight at a rather alarming rate.

The Vatican insists that no particular medical condition prompted the Pope's decision to resign, rather saying he has retired for the good of the church and because of a general decline in strength and energy.

Sources

• AFP
• CathNews
• The Star (Image)

Celestine, known as Pietro di Morrone was a hermit monk who lived in isolation in the mountains of Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

When Pope Nicholas IV died in 1292, the cardinals assembled in conclave could not agree on his successor. After two years of deliberation and in-fighting, they received a letter from Pietro di Morrone, warning them that divine vengeance would fall on them if they did not quickly elect a Pope.

At that, the elderly Dean of the College cried out, "In the name of God, I elect Pietro di Morrone!" All agreed, and the Cardinals persuaded him to accept the office. He took the name of Celestine V.

But he was a hermit, and craved the contemplative life. He was no administrator and could not deal with his Curial cardinals. He resigned after 5 months. Dante Alighieri, in his Divine Comedy, placed Celestine in hell for making "the great refusal" of the papacy. But the Church canonized Celestine a saint in 1313.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Church which contains the remains of Celestine. In a gesture which, with hindsight, could hold all sorts of meaning, Benedict placed on the tomb of Celestine the woolen pallium, the symbol of his office as bishop which he had worn during his own papal inauguration.

In the formal letter of his resignation as pope, Celestine cited as the causes for his decision: "The desire for humility, for a purer life, for a stainless conscience, the deficiencies of his own physical strength, his ignorance, the perverseness of the people, his longing for the tranquility of his former life."

Sources

• Fr. Craig Larkin s.m., who is based in Rome, writing exclusively for CathNews NZ Pacific