Below are the latest updates on some lingering QUESTIONS on Pope Benedict XVI's resignation- now officially answered by the Vatican.
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| Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square, Rome, 2010 |
"How is the former pope to be addressed?"
Pope Benedict XVI will be known as "pope emeritus" after he steps down this week. The retiring leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics can still be referred to as "His Holiness Benedict XVI" and will have the additional title of "Roman pontiff emeritus", Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi, SJ said.
Asked whether Benedict will be the first former pontiff to be called "pope emeritus", Lombardi laughed and said: "We don't know what Celestine V (1294) was called when he stepped down. We'll have to ask the historians." The 13th-century monk was the only other pope in the 2,000-year-old Church's long line of rulers to step down voluntarily -- saying he could not tolerate the intrigues of the Church hierarchy.
"What will the former pope wear considering that the white cassock is normally reserved only for pontiffs?"
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| Gammarelli’s family enterprise, located behind the Pantheon, has provided Popes with their garments ince 1792. |
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| Pope Benedict XVI's famous red shoes were made by Antonio Arellano. |
He will continue wearing the white cassock normally reserved for pontiffs after he resigns but without the doubled shoulder cape, Lombardi said. He said Benedict has chosen to swap his trademark red shoes for a brown pair given to him by artisans in Mexico during a trip last year.
“What will be done with the papal ring used to seal important documents, traditionally destroyed upon a pope’s death?”
He would also stop wearing the gold Annulus Piscatoris (Ring of the Fisherman) used to seal papal documents. Tradition dictates that the ring be destroyed and a new one cast for each pope, but whether that occurs will be up to Vatican number two Tarcisio Bertone, the camerlengo or chamberlain who will be "interim pope" until a successor to Benedict is found.
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