Papal renunciation
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A papal resignation (Latin: renuntiatio) occurs when the reigning pope of the Roman Catholic Church voluntarily steps down from his position. As the reign of the pope has conventionally been from election until death, papal resignation is an uncommon event; only five popes have resigned, all but one between the 11th and 15th centuries, with disputed claims of four previous popes having resigned between the 3rd and 11th centuries. On 11 February 2013, Benedict XVI announced his resignation, which is set to take effect on 28 February 2013, 8.00 p.m.[1] [2][3] making him the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.
Despite its common usage in discussion of papal resignations,[4] the term "abdication" is not used in the official documents of the Church for resignation by a pope. Since the pope is supreme over the Church, there is no process in place for his involuntary removal.
Procedure
The Canon Law of the Catholic Church mentions papal resignation in Canon 332, where it states:
If it should happen that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office (munus), it is required for validity that he make the resignation freely and that it be duly manifested, but not that it be accepted by anyone.[5]
Canon law does not specify any particular individual or body or people to whom the pope must manifest his resignation, but some commentators (notably 18th-century canonist Lucius Ferraris) hold that the College of Cardinals or at least its Dean must be informed, since the cardinals must be absolutely certain that the Pope has renounced the dignity before they can validly proceed to elect a successor.[6][4]
History
The Catholic Encyclopedia notes the historically obscure resignations of Pontian[7] (230–235) and Marcellinus (296–308), the historically postulated resignation of Liberius (352–366),[4] and that one (unspecified) catalogue of popes lists John XVIII as resigning office in 1009 and ending his life as a monk.[8][9]
The first historically unquestionable[4] papal resignation is that of Benedict IX in 1045. In order to rid the Church of the scandalous Benedict, Gregory VI gave Benedict "valuable possessions"[4] to resign the papacy in his favour.[10] Gregory himself resigned in 1046 because the arrangement he had entered into with Benedict was considered simony.
A well-known resignation of a pope is that of Celestine V, in 1294. After only five months of pontificate, he issued a solemn decree declaring it permissible for a pope to resign, and then did so himself. He lived two more years as a hermit and then prisoner of his successor Boniface VIII and was later canonised. Celestine's decree, and Boniface concurring (not revoking it), ended any doubt among canonists about the possibility of a valid papal resignation.[11]
Gregory XII (1406–1415) resigned in 1415 in order to end the Western Schism, which had reached the point where there were three claimants to the papal throne: Roman Pope Gregory XII, Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII, and Pisan Antipope John XXIII. Before resigning, he formally convened the already existing Council of Constance and authorized it to elect his successor.
On 11 February 2013, the Vatican announced that Benedict XVI would resign on 28 February, due to infirmity from advanced age.[2]
List of papal resignations
| Pontificate | Portrait | Name English · Regnal |
Personal name | Reason for Resignation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 July 230 – 28 September 235 (5 years+) |
|
St Pontian PONTIANUS |
Pontianus | Pope Pontian abdicated on 28 September 235 AD to prevent a power vacuum. This brought a schism of the Roman Church to an end | First to abdicate office after exile to Sardinia by Emperor Maximinus Thrax. The Liberian Catalogue records his death on 28 September 235, the earliest exact date in papal history.[12][13] |
| 17 May 352 – 24 September 366 (7 years+) |
|
Liberius LIBERIUS |
Liberius | Some historians have postulated that Liberius resigned in 365, so that they may make sense of the reign of Antipope Felix II.[4] | Resignation considered historically dubious. |
| 1045–1046 | File:BenedictusIX.jpg | Benedict IX Papa BENEDICTUS Nonus |
Theophylactus III, Conti di Tusculum | Sold the papacy to his godfather Gregory VI and resigned in 1045 | Earliest historically indisputable papal resignation. He was pope on three occasions between 1032 and 1048.[14] One of the youngest popes, he was the only man to have been Pope on more than one occasion and the only man ever to have sold the papacy |
| April/May 1045 – 20 December 1046 (1 year+) |
|
Gregory VI Papa GREGORIUS Sextus, |
Johannes Gratianus | Considering the fact that the arrangement he had entered into with Benedict was simony | Abdicated or deposed at the Council of Sutri |
| 5 July 1294 – 13 December 1294 (161 days) |
|
St Celestine V, O.S.B. Papa COELESTINUS Quintus |
Piètro da Morrone | Overwhelmed by the demands of the office, this hermetic pontiff stepped down after five months as pope in 1294. Pope Benedict XVI prayed at his tomb in the central Italian city of L'Aquila in 2009. | One of the few popes who resigned. Member of the Order of Saint Benedict. |
| 30 November 1406 – 4 July 1415 (8 years, 216 days) |
|
Gregory XII Papa GREGORIUS Duodecimus |
Àngelo Correr | Resigned in order to end the Western Schism | Abdicated during the Council of Constance, which had been called by his opponent, the anti-pope John XXIII. |
Conditional resignations not put into effect
Before setting out for Paris to crown Napoleon in 1804, Pope Pius VII (1800–1823) signed a document of resignation to take effect if he were imprisoned in France.[4]
It has been claimed that during World War II, Pius XII drew up a document with instructions that, if he were kidnapped by the Nazis, he was to be considered to have resigned his office, and that the College of Cardinals were to evacuate to neutral Portugal and elect a successor.[15]
In February 1989, John Paul II wrote a letter of resignation to the Dean of the College of Cardinals, which said that he would resign from the papacy in one of two cases: if he had an incurable disease that would prevent him from exercising the apostolic ministry; or in case of a "severe and prolonged impairment" that would have kept him from being the pope.[16]
Incapacitation
Canon law makes no provision for a pope being incapacitated for reasons of health, either temporarily or permanently; nor does it specify what body has the authority to certify that the pope is incapacitated.[17] It does state that "When the Roman See is vacant, or completely impeded, no innovation is to be made in the governance of the universal Church."[18]
If requested, a diocesan bishop must offer his resignation from the governance of his diocese on completion of his seventy-fifth year of age[19] and cardinals are not allowed to join a conclave after reaching eighty. However, there is no requirement for a pope to resign upon reaching any particular age. Since the enactment of these rules concerning diocesan bishops and cardinals, three popes, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, reached the age of eighty during their pontificates.
In the years leading up to his death in 2005, some sources suggested that John Paul II ought to resign due to his failing health,[20] but Vatican officials always ruled out this possibility[citation needed] (although we now know that he had considered standing down in 2000[21], when he turned 80, so he clearly felt the possibility was there). However, Benedict XVI, his successor, announced his pending resignation for just this reason.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2013/february/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20130211_declaratio_en.html
- ^ a b "Pope Benedict in shock resignation". BBC.co.uk. 11 February 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.
- ^ Povoledo, Elisabetta; Alan Cowell (11 February 2013). "Pope Benedict XVI Says He Will Resign". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Code of Canon Law, canon 332 §2, Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 44 §2)
- ^ New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (Canon Law Society of America, Paulist Press, 2002 ISBN 0-8091-4066-7, ISBN 978-0-8091-4066-4), p. 438
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI, (HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 168.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ . Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913.
- ^ Mcbrien, Richard P. (31 October 2006). The Pocket Guide to the Popes. HarperCollins. pp. 30–31. ISBN 978-0-06-113773-0. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^ "The Chronography of 354 AD. Part 13: Bishops of Rome". pp. from Theosodr Mommsen, MGH Chronica Minora I (1892), pp.73–6. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ^ Coulombe, Charles A., Vicars of Christ: A History of the Popes, (Citadel Press, 2003), 198.
- ^ Squires, Nick and Simon Caldwell (2009-04-22). "Vatican planned to move to Portugal if Nazis captured wartime Pope". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ John Paul II wrote a letter of resignation in case he was not able to fulfill his duties By Rome Reports
- ^ The Code of Canon Law Annotated. Montréal: Wilson & Lafleur Limitée. 1993. p. note on canon 335. ISBN 2891272323.
- ^ Code of Canon Law, canon 335, Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 47)
- ^ Code of Canon Law, canon 401 §1
- ^ Johnston, Bruce; Jonathan Petre (8 February 2005). "Cardinal hints that ailing Pope may resign". The Telegraph.
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4420879.stm.
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