“Fratres carissimi, non solum propter tres canonizationes ad hoc Consistorium vos convocavi…”. February 11th 2013 started off as a day like any other, until Benedict XVI began reading out these words in Latin.
A routine Ordinary Public Consistory for the canonization of some martyrs from the southern Italian town of Otranto was about to end.
The Vatican was commemorating the anniversary of the Lateran Pacts. It was a day of celebration. There were just a handful of journalists from different countries in the newsroom.
Once the canonization ceremony – which was being filmed live – was over, Joseph Ratzinger held a piece of paper in his hands and announced he was resigning from the papacy and that the sede vacante period would begin on 28 February.
“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry…”
At 11.46, ANSA journalist Giovanna Chirri, who knew Latin well, spread the news: “The Pope will leave the papacy on 28 February.”
The news spread round the world like wildfire, along with images of the elderly German Pope speaking in Latin beside a wide-eyed monsignor.
Vatileaks, the scandalous leaking of confidential documents from the Holy See, had only just ended but the announcement of Benedict XVI’s resignation from the Petrine ministry came completely out of the blue.
The news struck "like a lightning bolt in a calm sky,” Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, said in a statement.
Sodano was one of the few who had been informed about the announcement beforehand.
In hindsight there had been some signs pointing towards the Pope’s resignation.
And it wasn’t so much the second comma in Canon 332 of Canon Law which states the possibility of the Roman Pontiff stepping down.
Nor was it the fact that John Paul II had put Joseph Ratzinger in charge of looking into the historical and theological plausibility of a Pope’s resignation, which he then decided not to opt for.
The real sign was a statement Ratzinger made a few years prior to this, in 2010, in the book-length interview with German journalist Peter Seewald, entitled “Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and the Signs Of The Times”.
In it, he clearly stated: “When a Pope arrives at a clear awareness that he no longer has the physical, mental, or psychological capacity to carry out the task that has been entrusted to him, then he has the right, and in some cases, even the duty to resign.”
But there had also been other subtle signs in the months prior to his resignation: his visit to Cuba in March 2012 which Benedict XVI found particularly trying physically; the pontifical yearbook which was usually published at the start of the year but which hadn’t been printed yet; an especially moving audience with the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano - who was on the verge of leaving Italy’s Quirinal Palace - just a few days before 11 February.
Paradoxically, just a few weeks after Ratzinger stepped down from the pontificate, Napolitano was re-elected President at the age of 87. And a number of scandals lingered in the background: from paedophilia, to the IOR, to Vatileaks.
There had been talk of the possibility of Ratzinger’s resignation for various reasons in the Italian press, but no one had been able to predict when, how or why Benedict XVI would make the shock announcement he did on 11 February 2013: “In today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me.”
The announcement came as a huge shock both inside and outside the Vatican. In the days following the big news, Catholics and non-Catholics alike greeted Joseph Ratzinger’s gesture with respect, understanding and admiration.
Some remarks from the cardinal’s general chorus of approval stood out in particular: Australian cardinal George Pell said that “people who, for example, might disagree with a future pope will mount a campaign to get him to resign.”
Italy’s Cardinal Camillo Ruini stated: “As a cardinal, but above all as a Catholic and as a priest, I believe that the Pope’s decisions are not to be questioned but to be accepted, even if they are painful.”
Polish cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul II’s personal secretary, stated (before going on to deny that his comment was intended as a criticism) that Wojtyla decided to stay on the Throne of Peter even as he was dying because “one does not come down from the cross.”
Benedict XVI seemed to refer back tot his remark in his final General Audience on 27 February, when he said: “I am not abandoning the cross, but I remain close to the crucified Lord in a new way.”
Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi called Joseph Ratzinger’s decision “a great act of government.”
The period between 11-28 February was a turbulent time. Media from across the world bombarded the Vatican newsroom with all sorts of questions, from what the name of the new Pope would be, to how he would dress, whether there was a risk of a schism and sedevacantism as well as requests for information about the Conclave.
In a slightly surreal climate of suspense, Benedict XVI joined the Curia in the Lenten spiritual exercises preached by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. He then took some final government-related decisions, having received some pressure from top figures in the Curia: he renewed the Commission of cardinals in charge of overseeing the IOR, he placed the Congregation of Children of the Immaculate Conception under the administration of an external commissioner, nominated Ernst von Freyberg as the new president of the IOR , promulgated the Motu Proprio “Normas nonnullas” bringing the date of the start of the Conclave forward by a day or so, he received the three cardinal detectives investigating Vatileaks scandal (Julian Heranz, Jozef Tomko and Salvatore de Giorgi) in audience and accepted the resignation of Keith O’Brien after he admitted to sexual misconduct.
Ratzinger also gave a few more final addresses: two General Audiences, two Angelus prayers, some special audiences (including one with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and a lengthy off-the-cuff speech to Roman priests on the Second Vatican Council).
Then at 5 pm on 28 February, he took a helicopter from the Vatican heliport to Castel Gandolfo.
"You know this day is different for me than the preceding ones: I am no longer the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, or I will be until 8 o'clock this evening and then no more,” he said from the Apostolic Palace on Alban Lake. I am simply a pilgrim beginning the last leg of his pilgrimage on this earth. But I would still... thank you… I would still—with my heart, with my love, with my prayers, with my reflection, and with all my inner strength—like to work for the common good and the Good of the Church and of humanity. I feel very supported by your kindness. Let us go forward with the Lord for the good of the Church and the world. Thank you. I now wholeheartedly impart my blessing. Blessed be God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Good night! Thank you all!”
At 8 pm the Swiss Guards closed the gates to Castel Gandolfo, marking the start of the sede vacante period.