There are significant ceremonial problems that the impending demise of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI presents that are currently unanswerable.
A succession of highly well-timed and well-understood procedures, including the declaration of the pope’s death, the breaking of the fisherman’s ring, the public exhibition of the pope’s body, and the funeral ceremony itself, mark the end of a reigning pope’s life.
But what procedures are followed when a pope emeritus passes away?
Given that Benedict’s retirement is unprecedented, the matter is still up for debate.
Of course, he was the first pope to abdicate the office in nearly 600 years, but he also outlived every other pope in retirement. Additionally, Benedict is the first Pope Emeritus.
It is evident that when Benedict resigned as pope in 2013, his offices came to an end and he went back to his pre-election state.
Thus, in a true sense, his resignation signified the “death” of his papacy. The death of a pontificate is different from the death of the guy himself, to continue the analogy, even though they typically occur at the same time. The old custom of the camerlengo striking the body of the deceased pope three times with a gavel while addressing him by his baptismal name, rather than by his name as pope, was a dramatic example of how this thought used to be expressed.
When John XXIII passed away, this ritual was last performed. The camerlengo twice exclaimed, “Angele, mortuus est?” after striking the hammer. (‘Are you dead, angel?’) Finally, there was a third confirmation: “Vere Angele mortuus est,” which translates as “Really, Angel is dead.”
In fact, Benedict’s case has already seen some of the ceremonies connected to a pope’s real demise. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, then-Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and secretary of state, shut down the papal apartment and destroyed the fisherman’s ring that Benedict had worn for almost eight years as Peter’s Successor.
So what will happen when Benedict passes away?
The Vatican Apostolic Archive official and specialist in pontifical ceremony, Monsignor Stefano Sanchirico, gave CNA a range of options while stressing that the final outcome will depend on a number of variables, not the least of which will be Benedict’s preferences for his burial arrangements.
The monsignor emphasized that Pope Francis would make the final decision. He continued, “However, we may make an educated prediction as to how things will be handled based on the tradition of the Roman ceremonial and contemplating some similarity with similar offices.”
First of all, the role of the pope emeritus “may be considered in the tradition of the Roman prelature,” according to Sanchirico.
“Once the exercise of the authority of the college, such as the judicial and administrative authority, was ceded,” he observed of the prelature’s numerous colleges, “the aggregation and privileges were kept, even though the jurisdiction was no longer exercised.”
This would also apply to the white cassock and the pope emeritus, who “no longer wields authority, but retains aggregation and privileges,” the speaker stated.
Sanchirico asserts that the funeral of a pope emeritus will “most likely be celebrated with the characteristics reserved for the reigning Pope: the coffin, the insertion in the coffin of the deed indicating the official acts of the papacy, coins for his papacy, and medals of the pontificate” despite the fact that there is no set ceremonial structure for such a service.
He said, “The Pope will be buried like a pope, that is, in the Vatican grottoes, and the location of John Paul II’s tomb would have have been specified, before he was canonized and the tomb was transferred to the basilica.”
He noted that “the elements associated to the transfer of papal power, and thus linked to the commencement of the vacant throne,” will be absent.
Notably, unlike when a reigning pope passes away, the Secretary of State will not resign from his position. Because of this, according to Sanchirico, one may anticipate that the Secretariat of State will be the one to make the announcement of the pope emeritus’s passing, most likely through the Holy See’s Press Office, which serves as the channel for official communications.
In a same vein, the monsignor advised that condolences “should be directed to the reigning Pope through the Secretariat of State.”
Why shouldn’t the pope receive condolences directly?
Sanchirico stated, “This public aspect results from the fact that the Secretariat of State is today mistakenly conceived as a Papal Secretariat, but it is forgotten that in 1973 it absorbed the responsibilities of the Apostolic Chancellery, a body delegated for centuries to the public correspondence of the dicasteries of the Holy headquarters, such as the bulls of appointment of bishops.
The monsignor noted that some ceremonial aspects, such as those for heads of state who wish to attend the funeral, are still up in the air.
What about the “novendiali,” or the nine days of sorrow that follow a pope’s passing?
The novendiali, which precedes the General Congregations, or pre-conclave gatherings, consists of a series of solemn Masses for the salvation of the pope’s soul, commencing with the pope’s death Mass.
Benedict’s burial would be held a few days after his passing, whether or not the novendiali is observed in his case. We must wait and see what happens, like with other ceremonial aspects of a pope emeritus’s passing.
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