Papal renunciation

Despite its common usage in discussion of papal renunciations,[2] the term abdication is not used in the official documents of the church for renunciation by a pope.

Modern procedure

In the

• Si contingat ut Romanus Pontifex muneri suo renuntiet, ad validitatem requiritur ut renuntiatio libere fiat et rite manifestetur, non vero ut a quopiam acceptetur.[3] (In English:^[4] If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation be made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone.)^[5]

This corresponds to canon 221 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which in Latin is:

• Si contingat ut Romanus Pontifex renuntiet, ad eiusdem renuntiationis validitatem non est necessaria Cardinalium aliorumve acceptatio. (In English:^[6] If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is not required for validity that the resignation is accepted by the Cardinals or by anyone else.^[7])

Both the 1983 code and the 1917 code make explicit that there is no particular individual or body of people to whom the pope must manifest his renunciation. This addresses a concern raised in earlier centuries, specifically by 18th-century canonist Lucius Ferraris, who held that the College of Cardinals or at least its Dean must be informed, since the cardinals must be absolutely certain that the pope has renounced the dignity before they can validly proceed to elect a successor.^[2][8]

In 1996, Pope John Paul II, in his

The Catholic Encyclopedia notes the historically obscure renunciations of Pontian^[10] (230–235) and Marcellinus (296–308), the historically postulated renunciation of Liberius (352–366),^[2] and mentions that one (unspecified) catalogue of popes lists John XVIII as resigning office in 1009 and finishing his life as a monk.^[11][12]

11th century

The first historically unquestionable

Celestine V

A well-known renunciation of a pope is that of

Gregory XII (1406–1415) resigned in 1415 in order to end the Western Schism, which had reached the point where there were three claimants to the papal throne: Roman Pope Gregory XII, Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII, and Pisan Antipope John XXIII. Before resigning, he formally convened the already existing Council of Constance and authorized it to elect his successor.

Benedict XVI

, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who took the name Francis.

List of papal renunciations

Pontificate	Portrait	Regnal name	Personal name	Reason for renunciation	Notes
Alleged resignations
21 July 230 – 28 September 235 (5 years+)		St Pontian	Pontianus	Exiled by Roman authorities	Renunciation documented only in the Liberian Catalogue, which records his renunciation as 28 September 235, the earliest exact date in papal history[23][24]
30 June 296 – 25 October 304 (7 years+)		St Marcellinus	Marcellinus	Said to have been tainted by offerings to the pagan gods during the Diocletian persecution	Renunciation is documented only in the Liberian Catalogue.
17 May 352 – 24 September 366 (14 years+)		Liberius	Liberius	Banished by Emperor Constantius II[2]	Renunciation is speculated to explain the succession of Antipope Felix II,[2] although Liber Pontificalis argues that Liberius retained office in exile.
January 1004 – July 1009 (5 years+)		John XVIII	Fasanius	Abdicated and retired to a monastery	Renunciation documented only in one catalog of popes
20 January 1045 – 10 February 1045 (1 month)		Sylvester III	Giovanni dei Crescenzi–Ottaviani	Driven out of office by the return of Benedict IX	Some claim he was never pope, but an Benedict IX acquiesced to his first deposition and that the new election was valid. Sylvester returned to his old bishopric, seemingly accepting the deposition.
Reliable resignations
22 May 964 – 23 June 964 (1 month)		Benedict V	Benedict Grammaticus	Deposed by the Emperor Otto	Deposed in favor of the antipope Leo VIII, who then became a valid pope. Benedict's abdication is considered valid. Retained the rank of deacon. Lived out the rest of his life in Hamburg under the care of Adaldag, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen.
Oct 1032–Sept 1044 April 1045–May 1045 Nov 1047–July 1048		Benedict IX	Theophylactus III, Conti di Tusculum	Deposed briefly from his first term as pope, bribed to resign his second term after several reputed scandals, and also resigned his third term	Earliest renunciation recognized in the ordering of popes. He was pope on three occasions between 1032 and 1048.[25] One of the youngest popes, he was the only man to have been pope on more than one occasion and the only man ever to have sold the papacy
April/May 1045 – 20 December 1046 (1-year+)		Gregory VI	Johannes Gratianus	Accused of simony for bribing Benedict IX to resign	Abdicated or deposed at the Council of Sutri
5 July 1294 – 13 December 1294 (161 days)		St O.S.B.	Pietro da Morrone	Lack of competence for the office	With no administrative experience, Celestine fell under the control of secular politicians. To protect the church, he resigned. He was the first pope to establish canons for renunciation.
30 November 1406 – 4 July 1415 (8 years, 216 days)		Gregory XII	Angelo Correr	To end the Western Schism	Abdicated during the Council of Constance which had been called by his opponent, Antipope John XXIII
19 April 2005 – 28 February 2013 (7 years, 315 days)		Benedict XVI	Joseph Ratzinger	Main article: Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI Physical infirmity due to advanced age (85 at the time)	Became Pope emeritus upon renunciation.

Conditional renunciations not put into effect

Before setting out for Paris to crown Napoleon in 1804, Pope Pius VII (1800–1823) signed a document of renunciation to take effect if he were imprisoned in France.^[2]

During World War II, Pope Pius XII drew up a document ordering that his resignation take effect immediately if he were kidnapped by the Nazis, as was thought likely in August 1943. It was thought that the College of Cardinals would evacuate to a neutral country, perhaps Portugal, and elect his successor.^[26]

According to longtime curial official Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Pope Paul VI handwrote two letters in the late 1960s or 1970, well before his death, in anticipation of an incapacitating illness. One letter was addressed to the College of Cardinals, the other to the Secretary of State, whose name was not specified. Pope John Paul II showed them to Re, and they were shown to Pope Benedict XVI in 2003.^[27][28] In 2018, Paul's letter dated 2 May 1965 and addressed to the dean of the College of Cardinals was published. He wrote that "In case of infirmity, which is believed to be incurable or is of long duration and which impedes us from sufficiently exercising the functions of our apostolic ministry; or in the case of another serious and prolonged impediment", he renounced his office "both as bishop of Rome as well as head of the same holy Catholic Church".^[29][30]

Pope John Paul II wrote a letter in 1989 offering to resign if he became incapacitated. The first said that if ill health or some other unforeseen difficulty prevented him from "sufficiently carrying out the functions of my apostolic ministry … I renounce my sacred and canonical office, both as bishop of Rome as well as head of the holy Catholic Church." In 1994 he wrote a document that he apparently planned to read aloud, which explained that he had determined he could not resign merely because of age, as other bishops are required to do, but only "in the presence of an incurable illness or an impediment", and that he would therefore continue in office.^[31][32] He prayed in his will, written in 2000, that God "would help me to recognise how long I must continue this service", suggesting that renunciation was possible.^[33] In the weeks before his death in 2005, there was press speculation that John Paul might resign because of his failing health.^[34]

Incapacitation

Canon law makes no provision for a pope being incapacitated by reason of health, either temporarily or permanently; nor does it specify what body has the authority to certify that the pope is incapacitated.^[35] It does state that "When the Roman See is vacant, or completely impeded, no innovation is to be made in the governance of the universal Church."^[36][37]

See also

• Sede vacante
• Jewish pope Andreas, a Jewish legend about a Jewish boy in the Middle Ages from the German town of Mainz who is kidnapped while asleep, told his parents had died, converts to Catholicism, becomes a priest and is elected Pope but then engineers a meeting with Mainz Jews, discovers his rabbi father is still alive when he appears, before admitting to his father that he is his long-lost son, abdicates from the papacy, converts back to Judaism and moves back to Mainz.

References