BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

'Ingravescente aetate'- due to advanced age:
The philological roots of Benedict's reform
by Luigi Accattoli
Translated from

February 19, 2013

In Pope Benedict XVI's formal act of renunciation, there are two key words: ingravescente aetate - due to advanced age - which in themselves are worth more than a whole discourse.

They come in fact from the much-contested motu proprio whereby in 1970 Paul VI established the age limit for cardinals of the Roman Curia and for those taking part in a Conclave.

In using that same term, Benedict XVI was employing linguistic subtlety to say that Popes must acknowledge that the criterion they apply to their collaborators should also apply to them.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry”, Benedict XVI said in Latin on February 11.

The words ‘ingravescente aetate’ were already present in the Second Vatican Council’s 1965 decree on ‘the pastoral office of bishops’, in urging them to “spontaneously renounce their office" when they become “less able to comply with their duties”. The words are also in the title of Paul Vi’s implementing motu proprio. They are thus thematic words marked in red.

With his motu proprio, Paul VI established that cardinals in the Roman Curia must present their ‘renunciation of office’ when they reach 75 years of age and that all cardinals would lose "their right to enter the Conclave" when they reach 80.

It is said that what made Paul VI decide to exclude the over-80 cardinals from the Conclave was partly a minor disturbance in the 1963 Conclave which had elected him Pope, when one of his colleagues thought he was taking part in the Conclave of 1958 when Angelo Roncalli was elected.

But Papa Montini was also concerned to make sure that the Old Guard in the Curia who opposed Vatican II would not have a chance to prevail after his death.

The cardinals who were thus excluded protested to the Pope, and after he died, they brought it up again with John Paul II. In 1989, ten of them wrote the Polish Pope to readmit all cardinals into the Conclave. Among the signatories were Bafile, Baum, Guerri, Oddi, Palazzini, Paupini, and Siri.

But the norm remained, and it is reasonable to think that Pope Benedict’s renunciation now places it beyond any contestation.

Against Papa Montini, opponents of the norm began exerting pressure – resulting in frequent reprises of the topic in the media – to the effect that when Paul VI himself reached 80, he should renounce the Pontificate, just as he had decreed that cardinals should lose their Conclave rights at that age.

The pressure was so strong that the Pope was forced to give a response through L’Osservatore Romano. Shortly after he turned 80 in September 1977, an article by the Vatican newspaper’s deputy editor Virgilio Levi appeared, entitled “Why the Pope cannot resign”.

Levi said in behalf of Montini that the Pope is ‘unique and different’ and can therefore not be compared to cardinals and bishops.

Today, however, we have a Pope who has always considered the papal ministry ‘unique and diffefent’, but maintains that it is also comparable to the ministry of bishops and cardinals in that it requires “the capacity to adequately exercise" their respective functions.

But in applying such a criterion, the Papacy would remain ‘unique’ in the sense that there would not be a predetermined age limit – as all canon law experts tend to think today – that would oblige a Pope to resign, say 80 or 85. However, it must be acknowledged that “for the good of the Church” (the other key expression in Benedict’s declaration), even the Bishop of Rome must leave office when he determines that he has “the right or even the duty” to do so, as this Pope said in his 2010 book-length interview Light of the World.

Therefore, not that the Papacy should have a ‘term limit’, as some have hypothesized or proposed, but that the Pope must be ready to consider that it is fully practicable to renounce the Papacy because of the limitations imposed by advanced age or by illness.

This is certainly the most important reform introduced by Benedict XVI to the life of the Church institution. A reform that he has formulated not with a ‘canon’ but promulgated by his very action.

The following article deals with two other legal niceties that are of more immediate interest to the public in connection with Benedict XVI's landmark decision:

Did Benedict 'renounce', 'resign' or 'abdicate',
and what should he be called after February 28?
by JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND

02/18/2013

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois — After Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would resign, a debate quickly ensued about the proper terminology for describing the Pope’s stunning decision: Had he “abdicated,” resigned or “renounced” his office? And what would he be called after he took up his new life of prayer and study?

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., a canon lawyer, has entered the discussion, offering the fruit of his analysis regarding the proper canonical term for the Pope’s decision and the likely title and name he will use after his resignation.

Such matters are not entirely settled because of the singular nature of this landmark decision: “A Pope has not left office alive for almost 600 years,” acknowledged Bishop Paprocki in a statement that offered his “canonical reflections on terminology.”

The remarks were sent to a canon-law listserve, and the bishop subsequently agreed to allow the Register to publish his reflections.

“What seems to have been overlooked so far in these discussions is that the word 'Pope' does not appear in the Code of Canon Law,” wrote the bishop. Instead, Canon 331, which defines the office held by the Pope, provides “several titles for the office held by a Pope: 'Bishop of Rome,' 'Successor of St. Peter,' 'Head of the College of Bishops,' 'Vicar of Christ' and 'Pastor of the Universal Church.' Other canons throughout the Code give us the title most commonly used for the Petrine office: ‘Roman Pontiff.’”

No surprise, then, wrote the bishop, that “Benedict did not use the word ‘Pope’ anywhere in his spoken announcement or letter of resignation.”

In his letter, Pope Benedict announced that he would step down from “the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of St. Peter, entrusted to me by the cardinals on April 19, 2005, in such a way, that as from Feb. 28, 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of St. Peter, will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff …”

The Pope signed his letter of resignation “BENEDICTUS PP. XVI,” and Bishop Paprocki noted that it “simply means that he is the sixteenth Pope with the name ‘Benedict.’ That is a historical fact that will never change.” [But also that he is still Pope - PP - until 8:00 pm on February 28.]

Bishop Paprocki then suggested that Catholics should view the word “Pope” as “an honorific, even a term of endearment (‘papa’ in Italian). It is not the title of an ecclesiastical office.”

Thus, just as Catholics continue to call a priest “Father,” even though “he has resigned from the office of pastor,” so Italians probably “will continue to call Pope Benedict Papa Benedetto even after he leaves office as the Bishop of Rome,” predicted the bishop, who lived in Rome for three and a half years while studying canon law.

“I don’t think people will have a hard time wrapping their minds around having a Pope who is no longer the Roman pontiff, bishop of Rome, etc. Certainly, in direct address, one would never address him as anything but ‘Your Holiness.’”

That said, Bishop Paprocki added that it “would be best to know what Pope Benedict himself wants to be called after February 28, and I hope he will tell us.”

While some experts have said that the Pope should be called “Cardinal Ratzinger” after he formally resigns, Bishop Paprocki did not think that would be “correct.”

“If he had resigned before reaching the age of 80, after which a cardinal may no longer vote in a papal conclave, I do not think he would have, should have or could have donned a red cassock and entered the conclave in the Sistine Chapel to vote for his successor.

“Instead, at 8pm Rome time on Feb. 28, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI will have a new identity to which we will have to become accustomed: His Holiness, Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, former Roman/supreme pontiff, bishop emeritus of Rome.” [It sounds reasonable and wholly appropriate!]

Then there’s the problem of how to describe the Pope’s decision to resign from the Petrine office.

“The official English translation of the Code of Canon Law translates renuntiatio in Canon 332, §2 as 'resignation.' ('If it happens that the Roman pontiff resigns his of­fice, it is required for validity that the resigna­tion is made freely and properly manifested, but not that it be accepted by anyone.')"

Accordingly, Bishop Paprocki pointed to “resign” as “a more accurate translation in this context than ‘renounce’ and certainly not ‘abdicate’ (a term used by royalty when a monarch steps down from the throne).” [But the official English translation of Benedict's declaratio says 'renounce', as do the translations in the Romance languages (derived from Latin) Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French. The sense is obviously 'to resign', but 'to renounce' seems more appropriate for the act of literally 'giving up' an office, rather than just leaving it. The daily Vatican rubric where announcements are made on resignations, replacements and new appointments is called "Rinunce e Nomine' (Renunciations and Nominations)].

To those who find it “odd” that Pope Benedict resigned without actually “submitting that resignation to anyone,” Bishop Paprocki noted that the canon offers the following guidance on a “valid” resignation: The decision must be “made freely and properly manifested, but not that it be accepted by anyone.”

But what to make of the fact that Pope Benedict himself used the term “renounce” in his Feb. 10 statement marking his unexpected decision?

Bishop Paprocki suggested that “‘renounce’ is a literal but not necessarily accurate translation of renuntiatio in this context.”

“Since the Pope wrote and spoke in Latin, it is a question of translation. Parallel passages in canon law regarding bishops and pastors stepping down from office use the word renuntiatio, but we never speak of a bishop sending in his letter of ‘renunciation’ when he turns 75 or a pastor ‘renouncing’ his office.”

Thus, in his view, “‘resignation’ is the proper translation of renuntiatio in this context.

Bishop Paprocki said that his “humble” contribution to the debate provoked by Pope Benedict’s landmark decision may well be challenged by “more learned experts.” Indeed, the subject “could all become moot if the Holy Father tells us clearly his wishes.”

For now, the Springfield bishop will be praying “for Pope Benedict XVI during this time of transition and for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the election of his successor.”



Personally, I will continue to use the term 'renunciation' as the more accurate description of what Benedict XVI has done - especially as he renounced office in time for Lent. Every Catholic asks himself as Lent approaches, "What will I give up (renounce) for Lent?" Benedict made the ultimate renunciation. The word also fits the sense of Dante's description of Celestine V's giving up the Papacy as 'il gran rifiuto' - the great renunciation.