Exactly. Since Benedict XVI becomes part of history, but Joseph Ratzinger is still alive, he picks up where he left off, as Prince of the Church. That title can never be taken away once it’s given. Who has the authority to strip a cardinal of his title? Only a pope. But the Chair of Peter will be vacant. Because a man is elected pope, he does not lose all of his other titles, rights and privileges. He will also be the Bishop Emeritus of Rome. He’ll be the first to hold that title.
The Vatican has been explaining this since yesterday. He will continue to be a cardinal. I imagine he will be one to whom the next pope will reach out to a great deal.
More from the letter #7 (Inside the Vatican):
Second, the decision was not really “unexpected.” In fact, almost three years ago, in mid-2010, in an article entitled “The Celestine Sign,” I argued that the Pope was giving us a hint that he was considering abdicating his papacy.
The hint was Benedict’s devotion to Pope Celestine V, who resigned the papacy in 1294.
So we knew already knew three years ago that the Pope might do what he announced this morning, when he announced, in Latin, that he will leave his office on February 28, precisely at 8 pm in the evening.
We knew that he might do it, but no one knew he would do it now, while the Year of Faith is underway, while his promised encyclical on faith is not yet published, and while his campaign for a purification of the Church has not reached a final conclusion. “I thought he might resign, but only at age 90,” a Vatican monisgnor told me this afternoon. (Note: Edward Pentin has reported that the text of the expected encyclical is a “beautiful” text and that Benedict planned to use the encyclical to share his reflections on what it means to be a Christian today, the role of faith in the life of man and society and the value of Christian truths. These will be linked to the “mystery” of Easter, at a time when, in many respects, the world is in crisis. Vatican Insider claims the new encyclical has been getting “rave reviews” from those who have already seen drafts. “The text of the Pope is beautiful,” a senior prelate in the Curia is reported as saying. “With his simple language, Benedict XVI expresses even the most complex and profound truths which are able to reach a diffusion that goes beyond imagination.” But will this encyclical come out before February 28?)
Here is the beginning and end of my article from three years ago:
“The Celestine Sign”
by Robert Moynihan, Inside the Vatican
A little more than a year ago, on April 29, 2009, Benedict did something unusual. He left his own “pallium,” the sign of his episcopal authority and his connection to Christ, on a tomb in Aquila, Italy. The tomb held the remains of a relatively obscure medieval Pope named was Celestine V (1209-1296). (See the photo below; the pallium is the white cloth the Pope is putting on top of the tomb.)
Why?
…I am not suggesting Pope Benedict XVI is thinking of following in the footsteps of the saintly Pope Celestine and resigning.
I am suggesting that the studious Pope Benedict and the studious monk-Pope are “connected” in a mysterious way.
I believe Benedict’s decisions to leave his pallium in Aquila, where Celestine’s tomb is located, and to schedule a prayer before his relics this coming Sunday, are not haphazard.
These decisions are indicators, ways of communicating truths through gestures. They contain a message the Pope cannot deliver any other way.
Again, sorry I can’t get the image to paste.
