Benedict XVI's death clears way for Pope Francis to retire in future

VATICAN CITY, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Six months ago Pope Francis brushed aside speculation that he was set to step down due to ill health, but even though he had toyed with the idea , he ran into a major obstacle: there was already another retired ex-pope.

the dead on saturday of Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to step down rather than rule for life, should make any decision to resign easier for Francis and the Church, which has struggled enough with to have “two popes”not to mention three – two retired and one reigning.

It could also prompt the current pontiff to reconsider what happens to future popes who decide to leave office due to old age rather than hold out until their death.

François is now 86, a year older than Benoît when he retired. Although he needs a cane and a wheelchair, he shows no signs of slowing down. Travel is planned for Africa this month and Portugal in August.

He has made it clear that he would not hesitate to step down one day if his mental or physical condition health prevented him to lead the Church of 1.3 billion members.

In one interview with Reuters on July 2, he dismissed rumors of an impending resignation. “It never occurred to me,” he said, also denying rumors among diplomats that he had cancer.

The previous month saw the Catholic media world and some secular media engulfed in a frenzy of unsubstantiated reports and frivolous tweets. speculating that he would be out in a few months.

But as he now approaches the 10th anniversary of his election in March, and into the ninth decade of his life, the odds of resignation will increase.

Church law states that a pope can resign, but the decision must be made without outside pressure, a precaution that dates back to the centuries when European potentates influenced the papacy.

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[1/2] Pope Francis leads the mass to mark the World Day of Peace in Saint Petersburg. St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, January 1, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS

Now that longer lifespans have made papal resignations more unthinkable, Church leaders have repeatedly called for regulating the role of former pontiffs, in part because of the confusion caused by two men dressed in white living in the Vatican.

Francis told a Spanish newspaper last month that he had no intention of defining the legal status of popes emeritus, although he had previously indicated privately that a Vatican department could draft such rules.

Australian Cardinal George Pell, a Tory close to Benedict XVI, wrote that if a retired pontiff could retain the title of “pope emeritus”, he should become a cardinal again and be known as “cardinal (surname) , pope emeritus”.

Pell also said a former pontiff should not wear white, as Benedict XVI did, telling Reuters in a 2020 interview that it was important for Catholics to know that “there is only ‘one pope’.

Scholars and jurist canonists from the Italian University of Bologna who have studied the matter say the Church cannot even risk the appearance of having “two heads or two kings” and have come up with a set of rules.

They say a former pope should not become a cardinal again, as Pell proposes, but be called “bishop emeritus of Rome.”

Francis told Reuters in July that is precisely what he would like to be called.

In this case, new legislation might not be necessary, it would then be subject to the existing rules covering retired bishops.

The existing rules state that bishops emeritus must “avoid any attitude and relationship which might even hint at a kind of authority parallel to that of the diocesan bishop, with harmful consequences for the pastoral life and the unity of the community. diocesan”.

Although retired, Benedict wrote, gave interviews and, unwittingly or not, became a lightning rod for opponents of Pope Francis, either for doctrinal reasons or because they were reluctant to give up clerical privileges. that the new pope wanted to dismantle.

Francis told Reuters he would not stay in the Vatican or return to his native Argentina but would live modestly in a home for retired priests in the Italian capital “because it is my diocese”. He said he would like it to be near a large church so he could spend his last days hearing confessions.

Reporting by Philip Pullella Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky

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