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# Believers’ doubts about the validity of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-fevrale-bylo-by-10-let-kak-papa-rimskii-benedikt-xvi-oshelomil-ves-mir-uidia-v-otstavku/
- Published: 2022-12-31T10:51:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:54:33.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Monarchies, Observations, Rome

In February it would have been 10 years since Pope Benedict XVI stunned the world by resigning. I remember that day very well, and my own state of shock. Yes, this extraordinary situation astonished many, but it has never quite left me in peace.

If one looks into it, the widespread alternative view that Benedict XVI remained the true Pope all this time is not so very marginal. Let us consider which subtleties of the papal abdication led a great many of the faithful to doubt that Benedict had really abdicated, which naturally called, and still calls, the legitimacy of Francis's papacy into question.

The point is not merely that this was the first case in six hundred years of a Pope voluntarily leaving the throne: the story has many interesting details.

First, when Pope Gregory XII resigned in 1415, that very first case six hundred years ago, he genuinely ceased to be Pope. Benedict XVI, by contrast, kept the papal title for himself, albeit with the qualification Pope Emeritus, which in essence changes nothing, for as long as a man continues to be called Pope. Gregory XII, for his part, parted with that designation, took off the white papal vestments, put on the cardinal's purple and rejoined the College of Cardinals.

After his abdication no one ever addressed Gregory XII as "Your Holiness". He was called "Your Eminence", as is proper when addressing a cardinal. Benedict XVI, however, retained the papal style. Certainly, for a complete abdication the title of "Cardinal Bishop Emeritus" would have been more fitting than "Pope Emeritus".

Second. Benedict did not part with the papal name he had taken on the day he was proclaimed Bishop of Rome. In theory, from the moment of abdication he ought to have been called by the name given to him at baptism, Joseph Ratzinger, with the title "Bishop Emeritus of Rome", or simply Cardinal Ratzinger.

Third. Benedict went on wearing the papal cassock rather than donning a black habit. What is more, he kept a number of papal privileges. And he did not even leave the Vatican. That is, he was Pope in the same place, with the same name, in the same attire, with almost the same title.

Fourth. Under canon law, legally there can be only one Pope, and the title "Pope Emeritus" simply cannot exist. Consequently, one of the two, Benedict or Francis, ought not to have been styled Pope.

Fifth. When Benedict announced his resignation, he said that he no longer had the strength to govern a Church of 1.3 billion members, and that afterwards he would remain hidden from the world, living in seclusion in a monastery within the walls of the Vatican. By God's will the 85-year-old man who lamented his senile infirmity lived to 95, appearing in public from time to time, making pronouncements on matters concerning the whole Church, setting out his views in open letters and even continuing to publish theological works. Benedict did not, after all, remain hidden from the world; moreover, he attended a whole series of services and public events alongside his successor Francis.

Sixth. Among the undisclosed reasons why Benedict supposedly went on being Pope of Rome, one sometimes hears a curious theory that he used faulty Latin in his official declaration of resignation. And although the legislative acts regulating this procedure do not specify correct Latin as one of their requirements, this is often joined by the claim that the cardinals at the conclave of March 2013 who elected Francis violated certain procedures, which may render his election invalid.

In the first years after Benedict's abdication, talk of the invalidity of his departure was so lively that he himself spoke out on the subject, calling, with undisguised displeasure, the notion that he was still the true Pope simply absurd. Benedict XVI repeatedly commented on his departure, saying that it had been a difficult decision, but one made in full consciousness and, in his opinion, the right choice.