rumors about possible resignation from Pope Francesco The rooms of the Vatican shook. after, after Ratzinger Could it be Bergoglio’s role? And perhaps in the future for other popes? Benedict XVI on his last day as ruling pope, in February 2013, when he abdicated Peter’s throne, notes daily fact, he said so plainly: “The seriousness of the decision was also precisely in the fact that from that moment on (from the elections of 2005, editor) I was always and forever by the Lord. For the longer he is always the property of everyone, of the whole Church, and of his life, so to speak, completely deprived of the private dimension (). ‘always’ is also ‘forever’ There is no longer a return to private life“.

At the time, Pope Ratzinger was 85 years old. They weighed heavily on the decision Age and physical condition. This is the dimension that emerges most powerfully from the new book Francesco Antonio Grana, Vaticanista del Fattoquotidiano.it: Remnants of the Papacy. The future of the Church after Bergoglio (Holy Land Editions, 251 pages, €16). Grana “with unpublished information (eg: a list of those previously informed by Benedict of his choice) analyzes the two-thousand-year-old institution of the papacy and its evolution with the present coexistence of the Popes, Francis Reigning and Emeritus Benedict. Not only that. A survey of the article highlights a thread A very strong of faith, a crystalline faith without a shadow, binds Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis”, beyond the divisions between conservatives and progressives, which still exist.

In short, according to Grana, Ratzinger is light years away from the right-wing clergy icon that someone would want to attribute to him. But the Pope Emeritus figure asks the Vatican, It will be the rule or the exception In the future of the church? How is it legalized? Will we have others after Benedict XVI? For Bergoglio, perhaps yes: ‘I think the Pope Emeritus is no exception.’ “