The Papal Ring

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jmjconder

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Since the recent news about Pope Benedict’s role after this Thursday I have one question that no one has answered.

Under the protocol of a death of a Pope the Papal ring is broken and destroyed. The information uses the term “demise.”

Since Pope Benedict has not died and will remain with some honors - what happens to the ring?

Since he will be a Pope Emeritus could he still complete his Encyclical on Faith?
 
jmjconder said:
Since the recent news about Pope Benedict’s role after this Thursday I have one question that no one has answered.

Under the protocol of a death of a Pope the Papal ring is broken and destroyed. The information uses the term “demise.”

Since Pope Benedict has not died and will remain with some honors - what happens to the ring?

Since he will be a Pope Emeritus could he still complete his Encyclical on Faith?
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From what I understand His ring will be destroyed when He steps aside as the Vicar of Christ. He will not be able to complete His encyclical on faith. Thats what I gather from others posts.
 
jmjconder said:
Since the recent news about Pope Benedict’s role after this Thursday I have one question that no one has answered.

Under the protocol of a death of a Pope the Papal ring is broken and destroyed. The information uses the term “demise.”

Since Pope Benedict has not died and will remain with some honors - what happens to the ring?

Since he will be a Pope Emeritus could he still complete his Encyclical on Faith?
Click to expand...
This question was answered by the Vatican today. He will surrender the Ring of the Fisherman to Cardinal Bertone, the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, and the College of Cardinals will destroy it as if the Pope had died. He will resume the use of the ring that he wore as Cardinal Ratzinger.

ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=7113

As for the encyclical, unless he publishes it in the next 36 hours, it will not be a papal encyclical of Benedict XVI. He could leave it unfinished, or he could publish it as a private theologian, or he could leave it for his successor to resume, complete, and publish as his own encyclical.
 
I found this bit of interesting information from CBS This Morning …

"As vice president of the Roman Guild of Goldsmiths, Claudio Franchi was commissioned to make the ring when Benedict was elected in 2005. He said reports that the ring will be destroyed are a mistranslation of the Italian word “biffatura,” which means “to cross out.”

“The ring is marked with a cross on the upper part as a symbol of the end of the papacy, It is not destroyed.”

So my question is, if this is the case, where are the the rings of the past Pope’s if they are not destroyed!?
 
cheapskate863 said:
He said reports that the ring will be destroyed are a mistranslation of the Italian word “biffatura,” which means “to cross out.”

“The ring is marked with a cross on the upper part as a symbol of the end of the papacy, It is not destroyed.”
Click to expand...
He is mistaken. The Papal ring (which is gold, with no jewel) will be beaten to a pulp using a special silver hammer reserved for this purpose. This practice prevents anyone from using the ring to forge documents and sign them with Benedict’s seal (the Church has had a fair amount of trouble with this type of thing in the past, where people created documents and ascribed them to former Popes).
 
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