Benedict XVI surprisingly announced his voluntary withdrawal in 2013, a march that had not taken place in the Catholic Church since the 15th century.
Benedict XVI turned into a very normal event, something that was quite an anomaly when it happened, to the point that it was interpreted as breaking a taboo: the papal resignation. On February 11, 2013, Joseph Ratzinger announced that he would leave St. Peter’s chair vacant for health reasons, even setting the date for February 28. “I don’t have the strength anymore,” he said. He did it for much of the College of Cardinals and so suddenly that he caught everyone with an altered step.
In the most distant tone of an informational bombshell, the Pope said he would leave it. Vaticanologists appeared, conferring with ecclesiastical experts and even medievalists, dusting lists of popes and antipopes, the chronicles of the Avignon schism, and even the legend of Popes Joan, to spice up the plate. After an initial moment of colorful information confusion, everyone discovered that the rectors of the church, if they wish, if they see themselves unable to continue, can leave their post without causing an earthquake to the Catholic institution. The point is, it hadn’t happened in six centuries.
When Benedict XVI announced his resignation at the age of 85 on Monday, February 11, 2013, many did not know how to react. It also added to the confusion that the Pope at the time said it in Latin. «To steer St. Peter’s boat and to preach the Gospel, it takes strength of both body and mind, strength that has diminished in me in recent months to such an extent that I have to admit that I am unable to perform the ministry well. practice that was entrusted to me,” he said. The videos capturing the moment show the clergy present taking a few seconds to process the news.
Because, unlike what Francis is doing now, Benedict XVI had given few hints that he was considering resigning from the papacy for health reasons. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi assured that “he surprised us”. In retrospect, the Vatican newspaper, ‘L’Osservatore Romano’, had revealed that he had made the decision almost a year ago, after traveling to Mexico and Cuba in March 2012, but it was a secret.
After the shock, the news was digested and the precedents were remembered, as Benedict XVI was, in fact, 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 Clement I was the first to resign voluntarily, 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 abdicate when he presided over the church for barely a year, in 537, under pressure from Empress Theodora, who indicted Pope Virgil. took his office. Place. More striking is the case of Benedict IX, as he was pope three times and resigned the same number, the last in 1045.
But the pope usually remembered as setting the undisputed precedent in these cases is Celestino V. A virtuous monk elected in hopes that he would bring order to a troubled church, he barely survived 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 faced two rival popes, Benedict XIII and the antipope John XXIII. Constance’s council decided to give chase and throw the three out, but only he willingly accepted the decision.
Source: La Verdad
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