Benedict XVI: Questions About Validity of Resignation are "Absurd"
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has firmly refuted speculation that he was forced to resign the papacy which, if true, would have invalidated his resignation.
In a written response to questions submitted to him by veteran Vatican correspondent Andrea Tornielli, Benedict XVI said there is "absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry” and that “speculations” surrounding it are “simply absurd”.
He denied he was forced to resign, was pressured into it, or fell victim to a conspiracy, according to an article in Vatican Insider published today. His resignation was genuine and valid and there is no “diarchy”, or dual government, in the Church today, the Pope Emeritus insisted. He said his “only purpose” is to pray for his successor," Vatican Insider reports.
Benedict's comments represent the first time he has spoken publicly about his resignation since he announced his decision to step down last year.
For some months, there has been speculation that he unwillingly resigned, thereby invalidating his decision and, consequently, the pontificate of Pope Francis.
The Pope Emeritus announced his decision last year with the words: “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.” At his final general audience on 27 February 2013, he further underlined that he had felt his "strength diminish" and had asked God "with insistency in my prayers to illuminate me with his light and make me take the best decision."
"I took this step in full awareness of its gravity and novelty but with profound serenity of spirit. Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult, painful choices, always keeping the good of the Church in mind and not ourselves," he said at the general audience. "I am not abandoning the cross, but remaining in a new way at the side of the crucified Lord. I no longer bear the power of office for the governance of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of Saint Peter,” he said.
Some have speculated that his wish to stay within “the enclosure of Saint Peter” implied that his decision to resign had not been taken freely and was therefore not valid. Coming so soon after the Vatileaks scandal and conspiracies in the Roman Curia, these factors added fuel to the speculation.
Tornielli therefore sent a letter to Benedict on 16 February this year, asking for his clarification on these interpretations, and the Pope Emeritus responded two days later. He wrote: "There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry. The only condition for the validity of my resignation is the complete freedom of my decision. Speculations regarding its validity are simply absurd.”
Benedict XVI also wrote: “I continue to wear the white cassock and kept the name Benedict for purely practical reasons. At the moment of my resignation there were no other clothes available. In any case, I wear the white cassock in a visibly different way to how the Pope wears it. This is another case of completely unfounded speculations being made."
Tornielli says Benedict XVI proved this at last Saturday’s consistory, which Francis had invited him to, when he took a seat along with the cardinal bishops instead of accepting the special seat that was offered to him. When Francis came up to him to greet and embrace him at the start and end of the ceremony, Benedict removed his zucchetto as a sign of respect and also to show that there is only one reigning Pope, Tornielli says.
Tornielli also quoted Benedict XVI's words in a letter he sent recently to his former colleague Hans Kung, in which he said: “I'm grateful to be bound by a great identity of views and a heartfelt friendship with Pope Francis. Today, I see my last and final job to support his pontificate with prayer." Some have apparently tried to twist those words, too. In response, Benedict told Tornielli: “Professor Küng quoted the content of my letter to him word for word and correctly."
He ended by saying he hoped he had answered the questions in “a clear and adequate way”.
Simple, Jimmy. Because your premise is false. Benedict didn't break Canon Law. You just keep claiming he did, no matter how many times I factually refute it. Easily your dumbest tactic, rivalled only by your asinine presumptions built around assuming your errors are facts. There's no point showing you for the umpteenth time why the Pope isn't a heretic. You already know why. You've known for years …More
Simple, Jimmy. Because your premise is false. Benedict didn't break Canon Law. You just keep claiming he did, no matter how many times I factually refute it. Easily your dumbest tactic, rivalled only by your asinine presumptions built around assuming your errors are facts.
There's no point showing you for the umpteenth time why the Pope isn't a heretic. You already know why. You've known for years. I did that back in 2020 and it went in on ear and out the other with you because there's nothing in between them to stop it.
I've walked all over you with Canon law every last time you've been dumb enough to raise particulars instead of your usual tactic of simply referring to it. Durr hurr. Canon law sez... with zero direct quotes FROM Canon Law and another fat goose-egg showing the quote applies. You're fraud, Jimmy. Just like your endless fraud accounts.
@Live Mike@Ultraviolet If you don't present us the real facts that it is a bot, you must be imagining that it is a bot, and submitting yourself to the deceiver. Yet all the bishops, even Athanasius Schneider, Burke, and Müller Brandmüller, have also confirmed Pope Benedict's resignation. Watch the deceiver out! Satan wants everybody to be excommunicated.
From my heart, I would have liked the ruling pope to be Benedict, but I bear this sorrowful cross, because God is allowing it. There are many excuses to escape from the cross. Jesus, I trust you.
@Fishermen You're not one of those people naive enough to believe that the Vatican hasn't been thoroughly infiltrated by Freemasons... Are you?! Hence the Benedict Bot.
Modernism infiltrated the Church, even Pope Benedict XVI claimed that seminarians were forbidden to read his books. The infiltrated modernists were not obeying Pope Benedict XVI and were leading the Church into schism. Then Pope Benedict XVI resigned, and the schism did not occur. In the face of speculation about his resignation, Benedict confirms it, by restating that the ruling Pope is Francis.…More
Modernism infiltrated the Church, even Pope Benedict XVI claimed that seminarians were forbidden to read his books. The infiltrated modernists were not obeying Pope Benedict XVI and were leading the Church into schism.
Then Pope Benedict XVI resigned, and the schism did not occur. In the face of speculation about his resignation, Benedict confirms it, by restating that the ruling Pope is Francis. Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Cardinals: Burke, Müller Brandmüller and other conservatives also confirm Francis as Pope.
In conclusion, Benedict resigned not because of fears of being killed, instead, because he sacrificed himself by resigning in order to avoid a great schism.
@Fisherman The only user raising the issue of a "Benedict bot" (whatever the heck that even means) is @Vincent Capuano. Thus, I don't need to present any "real facts" on this "bot" issue at all. Consequently, you have no business demanding that I do so. Likewise, since you aren't a telepath, I would thank you NOT to claim what I "must be imagining". You don't know what I'm imagining until I …More
@Fisherman The only user raising the issue of a "Benedict bot" (whatever the heck that even means) is @Vincent Capuano. Thus, I don't need to present any "real facts" on this "bot" issue at all.
Consequently, you have no business demanding that I do so. Likewise, since you aren't a telepath, I would thank you NOT to claim what I "must be imagining".
You don't know what I'm imagining until I tell you and only then. At the moment, I'm imagining a tall, slender angel who looks remarkably like Andrej Pejic circa 2011, floating down from Heaven bearing three cases of 2022 Summer Edition Strawberry-Apricot Redbull so I may properly celebrate the decree of Pope Francis exempting the FSSP from Traditionis Custodes. That's what I'm imagining, and only right now.
