Benedict XVI announced by surprise his voluntary withdrawal in 2013, a march that had not taken place in the Catholic Church since the fifteenth century
Benedict XVI turned into a most normal event something that when it happened was quite an anomaly, to the point that it came to be interpreted as the breaking of a taboo: the papal resignation. On February 11, 2013, Joseph Ratzinger announced that he was going to vacate the chair of Saint Peter for health reasons, even setting the date for February 28. “I don’t have the strength anymore,” he said. He did it before a good part of the College of Cardinals and so suddenly that he caught everyone with a changed step.
In the furthest possible tone from an informative bombshell, the Pope said that he was leaving it. Vaticanologists appeared, consultations with experts in ecclesiastical affairs and even medievalists, who dusted off lists of popes and antipopes, the chronicles of the Avignon schism and even the legend of Popess Joan, to spice up the plate. After a first moment of colorful informational confusion, everyone discovered that the rectors of the Church, if they want, if they do not see themselves in a position to continue, can leave their post without this causing an earthquake for the Catholic institution. The thing is, it hadn’t happened in six centuries.
Hence, when, at the age of 85, Benedict XVI announced that he was resigning on Monday, February 11, 2013, many did not know how to react. He also contributed to the confusion that the then Supreme Pontiff said it in Latin. «In order to steer the boat of Saint Peter and announce the Gospel, strength of both body and spirit is necessary, strength that in recent months has diminished in me in such a way that I have to admit my inability to exercise well the ministry that was assigned to me. entrusted,” he said. In the videos that record the moment, it can be seen how the ecclesiastics present take a few seconds to assimilate the news.
Because, unlike what Francis is doing now, Benedict XVI had given little hint that he was considering resigning from the papacy for health reasons. The Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, assured that he “has caught us by surprise.” In hindsight, the Vatican newspaper, ‘L’Osservatore Romano’, revealed that he had made the decision almost a year ago, after the trip to Mexico and Cuba in March 2012, but it was a secret.
from the origins
After the scare, the news was digested and the precedents were remembered, because, effectively, Benedict XVI was not the first Pope to leave his post at the head of the Catholic Church. However, there is still some discrepancy about exactly how many high priests made this decision.
It seems that the first to resign of his own free will was Clement I, whose pontificate lasted from 88 to 97, when Christianity was still a persecuted religion. With Christianity already recognized as the official religion of the Roman Empire, Pope Silverio was forced to resign when he had barely been at the head of the Church for a year, in 537, due to pressure from Empress Theodora, who put Pope Virgil in his place. More striking is the case of Benedict IX, because he was Pope three times and resigned as many, the last in 1045.
But the pontiff who is usually remembered as the undoubted precedent in these cases is Celestino V. A virtuous monk chosen in the hope that he would bring order to a troubled Church, he barely endured from August 29 to December 13, 1294. Overwhelmed by the task, he decided to retire from the world, turned into a hermit.
The last Pope to resign before Benedict XVI was the Venetian Gregory XII, on July 4, 1415. During the Western Schism he had to deal with two rival pontiffs, Benedict XIII and the antipope John XXIII. The council of Constance decided to cut to the chase and throw the three out, but only he accepted the decision willingly.
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