What do you call an ex-Pope?

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 11, 2013

Among the many questions raised by the resignation of Pope Benedict, this one isn’t in the top 20. But since it has already been asked, and the director of the Vatican press office has admitted that he doesn’t know the answer, let’s give it a moment’s thought:

Question: What is the appropriate title for a retired Pope?

Answer: Don’t worry about it; it doesn’t matter.

Once he leaves office on February 28, Pope Benedict XVI won’t be hanging around the Vatican, looking over his successor’s shoulder. He won’t be giving interviews or press conferences. He will do his utmost to disappear from public view.

We don’t know, at this point, how quickly the Holy Father’s health is deteriorating. We don’t know whether he has recently received some news from his doctors—or perhaps even from his own body—warning him that he cannot continue working much longer. But we do know that for years he has longed for quiet and solitude. He never wanted to live his life on the public stage. Once he makes his exit, it will be for good.

It’s no secret that at least twice, while serving as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then-Cardinal Ratzinger attempted to resign, only to have Pope John Paul II prevail upon him to continue his work. He wanted to retire to his study, to read and write, without the burdens of administrative office. No doubt he still hoped that eventually he would have that sort of quiet, scholarly retirement; but the Holy Spirit had other plans for him. Now at last, for whatever time he has remaining to him, he can finally taste the long-awaited pleasures of solitude, spending his days with his books, his piano, and perhaps one or two cats. May God grant him peace in his final days.

So how do you refer to a retired Pope? If Benedict XVI has his way, you don’t.