There was no tolling of the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica, no solemn announcement by a Vatican monsignor to the faithful in the square.
VATICAN CITY— A fisherman’s ring did not get smashed and the diplomatic corps were not mobilized to send official delegations to Rome.
“I think that his death will open problems, not close problems,” said Massimo Franco, the author of “The Monastery,” a book about Benedict’s revolutionary retirement. Francis, for his part, offered a first word of tribute Saturday during his New Year’s Eve homily, after having paid his respects Saturday morning immediately after Benedict died with a visit to the converted monastery where his predecessor lived. Francis praised Benedict’s nobility and faithful prayers in his final years, but otherwise stuck to a previously prepared homily about the need for kindness and dialogue in today’s world.
From the title he chose to the cassock he wore to the occasional public comments he made , even Benedict’s supporters felt his choices left too much doubt about who was really in charge, especially for those Catholics nostalgic for his doctrinaire papacy. The work to clarify how things would work the next time there is both a sitting and a retired pope has already started. A team of canon lawyers launched a crowd-sourcing initiative in 2021 to craft a new church law to govern how a retired pope lives out his final years.
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