So it will be as of 8 PM Rome time this Thursday. The Vatican has announced that Pope Benedict will be called His Holiness Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus following his resignation from the papacy. He will give us his red shoes and his fisherman’s ring, but retains the title of pope.
Strikes me as kind of odd, perhaps confusing. There will be two men with the title of pope, but only one with papal authority. A pope without authority and another with.
I can see why Benedict has decided to withdraw from the public view immediately upon the hour of his resignation.
