Retired Pope’s Ailing Well being Raises Questions of What’s Subsequent

(ROME) — The Vatican has detailed rituals and procedures to observe when a pope dies, however it has not revealed such guidelines for a pope emeritus. Consequently, official phrase Wednesday that the health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had worsened prompted questions on what occurs if and when he dies.

The reply is: There isn’t any particular reply, no less than not one the Vatican has introduced forward of time. The one factor sure is that crucial ritual following the dying of a pope — a conclave to elect a brand new one — doesn’t apply.

Pope Francis sounded the alarm in regards to the 95-year-old Benedict’s well being when he requested throughout his weekly Wednesday basic viewers for a particular prayer for his predecessor, saying the retired pope was “very sick.”

Francis later visited Benedict at his residence in Vatican Metropolis. the Vatican Gardens. The Vatican spokesman confirmed that Benedict had skilled a worsening in his situation, resulting from his age, in the previous couple of hours however stated the state of affairs was beneath management.

Most church watchers assume that, after they change into needed, funeral rituals for Benedict will carefully hew to these for a retired bishop of Rome: a funeral in both St. Peter’s Basilica or the piazza, on this case presided over by Francis somewhat than the dean of the School of Cardinals, and burial within the grotto beneath the basilica.

“The funeral for a pope emeritus is the funeral for the bishop emeritus of Rome,” church historian Alberto Melloni stated, including that the state of affairs isn’t fully unprecedented since dioceses all over the world have resolved the right way to correctly honor retired bishops.

The rites themselves are contained within the tome “Roman Rituale,” which lays out how liturgical rites are to be celebrated, with particular prayers and readings.

A couple of tweaks are known as for, nonetheless: As a result of Benedict was a head of state, the funeral would presumably tackle larger pomp with the attendance of official delegations from all over the world. To provide them time to reach, and to honor Benedict’s former standing as pope, he would probably lie in state for a interval of days within the basilica earlier than the funeral, as occurred for popes previous.

Few can neglect the lengthy traces of pilgrims who queued up for days and nights to pay homage to St. John Paul II when he died in 2005.

One factor that might distinguish a funeral for Benedict from that of the reigning pope is the 9 days of funeral rites earlier than burial, known as the “novemdiales,” presumably wouldn’t happen, Melloni stated. However one custom that might be retained is the inserting on the casket of the e book of the Gospels.

When Benedict introduced his retirement in 2013, he opened a decade of uncharted pontifical territory. From his title, “pope emeritus,” to his choice to retain the white cassock of the papacy, Benedict largely created a brand new playbook to embody each a reigning and a retired pope.

Christopher Bellitto, a historical past professor at Kean College in New Jersey, stated the novelty of Benedict’s exceptional choice would probably carry over into the posthumous interval, and past.

“Headlines will say ‘One pope is burying one other.’ Not true,” Bellitto stated in an e mail. “To be clear: Benedict is the previous pope.”

“However it’s a rare sight since we haven’t had a papal resignation in 600 years. It speaks each to the continuity of papal custom within the line of St. Peter but in addition to a brand new world the place papal resignations will likely be much less uncommon, possibly even frequent,” he stated.

Contact us at letters@time.com.