Just a brief thought, or rather two. A Pope resigning makes one think of these things.
First, there's discussion, various places, of what Benedict's title will be after his abdication; I'm pretty sure it'll be Bishop (perhaps Cardinal) Josef Ratzinger. I base this on A) that being what most other people are saying, and B) the fact that kings that abdicate are no longer kings, but princes (see, e.g., Edward VIII).
Also, this all reminds me of a halfwit I was debating once on Bad Catholic, who was insisting that Vatican City is one of the few country without women's suffrage. No, I don't know why I dignified him with a response either. Obviously, it's an electoral monarchy all of whose Princes Elector are a certain kind of monk, namely Catholic bishops, so of course they're all male (as I also pointed out, no women are involved in choosing the Dalai Lama, either, unless we go with the Chinese version of Avalokitesvara). But something I should've added, Vatican City is also the only country whose electorate is 51% foreigners—only 58 of the 118 cardinals currently eligible to vote are citizens of Vatican City. At that point, your usual standards simply don't apply.
1 comment:
Nice points. I have been pondering on what Pope Benedict's title will be once he resigns. Some of the people I talk with think at school say they will continue to refer to him as Pope Benedict. I know it's an American tradition to retain the title of an individual once they leave political office, eg, calling an ex-Senator Senator, ex-President President, etc., but I don't know if this type of title retention is practiced elsewhere in the world, particularly the in Vatican City.
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