Initially, the pope emeritus swore allegiance to the supreme pontiff and kept solemn silence regarding his decisions. Little by little, however, the situation changed and Ratzinger’s interventions became more and more numerous.
When Pope Benedict XVI announced his historic resignation in February 2013 set a precedent without equal in the recent history of the Church. Since then, the concern arose to know what the life of the Church would be like with two popes.
Pope Francis explained it in his own way: “It’s like having grandpa at home”although the reality was not so idyllic.
What was an unprecedented situation in the Church with a multitude of questions turned into a discreet and friendly coexistence, but over time problems arose from the presence of two “voices” representing the two Churches, Ratzinger’s conservative and Bergoglio’s reformist.
And it is that Celestino V, who also resigned in 1294, he was confined in the castle of Fumone (on the outskirts of Rome) fearing that someone might contact him or recognize him as pontiff.
Ratzinger he remained until the end of his days secluded in the Mater Ecclesiae monasterywithin the leonine walls, although he did not always maintain the silence that he promised following his historic resignation in February 2013.
In addition, the lack of regulations on the figure of the pope emeritus complicated this coexistence and it will also do so now with the death of Ratzinger, since it is not known how, for example, his funeral will be, who will officiate or if the Heads of State will be invited o will be something private.
Ratzinger’s obedience and silence
One year following the resignation of the German pontiff, the one who was his spokesman, Federico Lombardi, highlighted the “spiritual solidarity” between Popes Francis and Benedict XVI and that at no time were there fears regarding the situation that was created because “the papacy is service and not power.”
Lombardi then revealed that both had had several encounters and that “one has gone to the other’s house and vice versa”in addition to keeping in touch through the phone or through messages.
Some of these meetings were published and others were not, but Francis was in contact with Benedict XVI until the end of his days and visited him at his head when he was already very ill. He never missed his visit for his birthday or to congratulate him on Christmas.
It was recently learned that minutes following the election of the Argentine pope, on March 13, 2013, the emeritus promised him “total obedience” in a telephone conversation.
“I passed the phone to Benedicto and I heard him say: ‘Your Holiness, from this moment on, I pledge my total obedience and my prayer’. These are moments that I cannot forget”, recalled one of the German pope’s secretaries, Alfred Xuereb.
The uncomfortable presence of the emeritus
But little by little the situation was changing, and paradoxically, the interventions of the pope emeritus who had maintained his silence and his decision to remain “hidden from the world”, were more and more numerous.
In April 2019, following the historic Vatican summit to end clergy sexual abuse, Benedict XVI broke his silence once more publishing in a German magazine, and advanced by some media of religious information of conservative orientation, his vision on the subject.
Specific, linked these scandals to a supposed moral collapse of contemporary societiesespecially since the 1960s, when “until then binding standards regarding sexuality completely collapsed,” he wrote and It pointed directly to the revolution of May 1968.
Thus arose, once once more, the accusations that Ratzinger was easily manipulated by the most conservative area of the Church and confronted with Francisco.
The controversy over the “conservative book”
Another of the bombs that fell on the Vatican was in January 2020 when it was announced a new book signed by Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarahone of the main leaders of the conservative faction that criticizes every move of Francisco.
The volume, published in French by Fayard and titled “From the bottom of our hearts” (Des profondeurs de nos coeurs), defends above all priestly celibacy following the Synod on the Amazon where the bishops approved the proposal to ordain married men in the most remote areas.
Finally Sarah backed off and announced that “considering the controversies that have caused the publication of the book” he would remain as the author and the contribution of Benedict XVI would appear.
However, many analyzed in this move by the cardinal yet another attempt by the conservative wing to use the emeritus to wear down Francisco.
once more it was raised the obvious problem of defining the institution of the pope emeritus and how and where his writings are to be published, something Francis has yet to address.
What made clear the presence of the two popes was the existence of a Church increasingly divided into two camps.