Benedict XVI is abdicating on the 28th of February!

[steven harris]

I would image that he will step down, and retire to that monastery near Rome during the conclave as His Eminence Cardinal Ratzinger, but a Cardinal without a titular church, which is chosen successor will assign him.

Cardinal Ratzinger had been Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino (1977-1993, a title currently held by Cardinal Gordó, Archbishop of Barcelona). In 1993, he was made Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri-Segni (1993–2005), and as Dean of the College of Cardinals he was Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia as well (2002-2005).

Since he had been a Cardinal-Bishop, and since he will be Pope emeritus, I cannot expect him to be created anything less than a Cardinal-Bishop.

There are 6 cardinal-bishoprics (Albano, Porto-Santa Rufina, Sabina-Poggio Mirteto, Velletri-Segni, Frascati, and Palestrina). The Dean of the College of Cardinals adds Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia to whichever see he already has. Also ranking among the Cardinal-Bishops are 4 of the Eastern Rite Patriarchs. I am much less familiar with these, but they do not use one of the six Latin Rite Cardinal-Bishop titles above. Perhaps Cardinal Ratzinger could be made a Cardinal-Bishop, and given one of the suppressed patriarchies as his titular see - maybe Alexandria? The Popes used to use the title "Patriarch of the West", maybe that could be used? Or perhaps a new title like "Patriarch of Rome" - but that seems unlikely at best?

[Jonathan Webster]

Unlikely, as the reigning Pope is himself ex officio Patriarch of the West (although the title is not used any more, it has not been abandoned as such, just dropped.)and also ex officio (notionally and historically) Patriarch of Rome.

[steven harris]

My thoughts are that Benedict will revert to being a Cardinal when he abdicates. Since he is already past the age of mandatory retirement, he will not likely be given any active role within the Curia, or the Church elsewhere.

As far as his arms are concerned, as a Cardinal, he will revert to the red galero. Also, since retired bishops continue to use the episcopal cross behind their arms, and retired archbishops continue to use the archepiscopal cross behind theirs, it seems only logical that Cardinal Ratzinger could make use of the seldom-seen three-barred papal cross as a retired pontiff. I see this as less problematic than his contented use of the other papal additaments (miter, keys, etc).

If I may:

[Daniel Gill]

I don't think the triple cross will be used as this really is an invention that has never caught on. Then again, stranger things have happened with this man. In all honesty, I don't think we'll get any answers to these heraldry questions between whether he reverts to a cardinal (almost certainly yes) and to which title. I doubt he'll really ever uses arms upon his departure to be---from what it sounds like---basically a hermit, so we'll probably just be left with assuming that the normal ornaments are proper and nothing more.

[Daniel Gill]

Well, we have an answer regarding the pope's title and style post-resignation. According the the Council for Legislative Texts---which deals with questions arising under Church law---he will be called His Holiness Benedict XVI, Bishop Emeritus of Rome. This parallels how the Church deals with other retiring bishops, e.g. His Eminence Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles. His coat of arms should remain unchanged. Since the only thing that changes with other bishops emerius is that they cease to impale their arms---a custom that isn't practiced by popes---then nothing should change.

On a side note, the report linked to above quotes "His Holiness Benedict XVI" omitting the title pope. I'm not sure if that is intentional or accidental. It'd be a matter of hearing the cardinal say it in its original Italian.

[steven harris]

My opinion matters a little less than zero here, but I think that it’s unnecessarily confusing to have two men both using papal names and the style of “His Holiness” at the same time. The emphasis should have been on the fact that there is but one pope. There is no insult in allowing B16 to revert back to his baptismal name. The use of “Bishop emeritus of Rome” is fine, though.