Umm, given his performance, isn't this rather theoretical? The blessed man can hardly move, and he would never undermine Francis, who is Bishop of Rome, and that is all that matters. Francis is also reportedly tone-deaf, so we are on our own with our Evangelical spirit and ability to serve to convince our own ordinaries that we have something to offer. From Rome? "You have the writings of my venerable predecessors" on the Liturgy. And, yes, I do blame these things on Rorate Caeli--plausibility masquerading as revelation.

What Rorate-Coeli and francis present is undoubtedly true. Neither, as francis wrote, is to be blamed for presenting the "simple facts." And those facts are...

Benedict was having a really bad hair day on February 11, 2013, so bad, in fact, that he felt drawn to renounce the petrine office. (So, it was way worse than a migraine.) But when it actually came time to do the deed, the Holy Father simulated his resignation. He did not intend what he wrote and said.

This is true. These are the "simple facts," which, day by day, we will understand a little more.

Of course, this simulation constituted a grave sin on Benedict's part, one so serious that proper restitution could only take place in the public forum, just as the sin of perjury had been committed in the public forum. Benedict, not having made such a public confession, consequently is persisting in manifest grave sin and should be denied Holy Communion until he makes such a confession, upon which, of course, the duped usurper will hie himself back to Buenos Aires and the Church shall again be at peace.

to be continued...

(In next week's installment Hans Kung's role in Benedict's simulation will be revealed. Stay tuned...)

If Heather can have two mommies, why can't the church have two popes?

Because one can usually do enough damage all by himself.

Too much Pope-ourri for me.

There are NOT two popes. One is and one is not. Go figure it out!

Well, why would you keep going on and on about this issue unless you believe that Benedict is the pope now and Francis is not? And, if you believe that, why would you not also think that Benedict, by his simulated resignation, has perpetrated one of the greatest frauds in the history of the Roman Catholic Church?

Perhaps you have a clearer understanding of the situation and can enlighten us?

Yes, everybody else here has a much clearer understanding of the situation.

I surmise that you agree that Francis is Pope and that is the end of the discussion.

There, you've gone an answered your own question. :-)

No one suspects that Benedict could or would engage in a simulation. Read the article again.

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/05/two-popes-has-papacy-become-diarchy.html

This is a question of theology and canon law, its consequences and repercussion. Not of intent.

Francis, I did not read the article so I can not comment on all of it. But the last paragraph you posted proves the author has no idea what he is talking about so the whole thing is mute.

proper restitution could only take place in the public forum

,

This is simply not the case. A confessor makes his confession to a priest and restitution is between the confessor, the priest and the Lord and no one else.

If he made a grave sin, and realized went to confession, was sorry. The sin is forgiven. It does not have to be in the public forum.

Cardinale Scarpia: Come facemmo del Arcivescovo Palmieri

Msgr. Spoletta: Una renuncia

Cardinale Scarpia: ... simulata!... Come avvenne del Palmieri!

I hear strains of Jack Benny's violin "playing" of "Beautiful dreamer...."
Or maybe not.
Meanwhile in Iraq....Syria....Palestine....Pakistan.....Afghanistan....Maylasia....China.....India....the Phillipines....Washington DC.....New Orleans, other fiddles are playing.

Before signing off for the night, God bless we fathers who, though indelibly flawed and failed, still try the best we can to cultivate the seeds of the faith of our fathers into our kids, and their kids.

More emgerges

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/05/ganswein-papacy-was-transformed-in-2013.html

Do We Have Two Popes?

I certainly hope not. One is more than enough.

Do We Have Two Popes?

I certainly hope not. One is more than enough.

It could be worse. We should be happy that, unlike the situation with the hierarchy of some learned societies, we do not have a past-Pope, a Pope, and a Pope-elect.

There's a Pope in Rome and there's a Pope in Alexandria. So, there are indeed two popes.

And there's a Pope Emeritus in Rome.

You mean the Catholicos of the respective Oriental Churches?

That's different: that's a *patriarch* preferring to refer to the Pope of Rome as a *patriarch* - not the eastern patriarch referring to himself as *pope* (excepting the Coptic Pope of Alexandria).

By "Catholicos", I meant the various Catholicoi of the Syrian, Assyrian, Chaldean, and Armenian churches - the heads of the autocephalous Oriental Churches. I misunderstood you to mean they considered themselves to be Popes. I am only aware of that in the instance of the Pope of Alexandria not, say, the Catholicos of the East/Seleucia-Ctesiphon.

One interesting historical tidbit: the Catholicos of the East separated from the Byzantine and Roman churches in the early 5th century, not because of a dispute in doctrine (indeed, it affirmed the prior ecumenical councils), but to reduce the persecution of the Church of the East by making it clear that the Church of the East was not a fifth column in the Persian empire - and the Byzantine and Roman churches did not treat the Church of the East as having gone into schism by doing so. It's a much-neglected chapter in church history (as is virtually everything about the Church of the East).

Pius XIII died, but Michael I down in Kansas is still with us. Three, then?

Maybe we have one and a half.

I still think Pope Melo the Magnificent would be a good pope.

Pope Melo

Julie, help me recall the location of our Portable Cone Of Silence (PCOS) stash.

Many sources are quoting st emerich and st Francis both speaking to a future of two popes. Does anyone know about that info and where one can obtain accurate documents?

Ah, the Cone of Silence. What an infinitely useful contraption.

Francis

You can find your own sources if you wish. This is not a research site.

Because I do take research very seriously and would never in a million years consider this a serious research site; it's primarily a casual discussion board, with references to different levels of sourcing but almost zero care about cherry-picking (which, to my mind, is at the core of serious research).

Probably, to get an answer more suited to you, you should state in advance your concerns about what different sources say, and your standards for evaluating them. That will help you draw more desirable answers.

francis, the PCOS has nothing to do with you.
The device exists for Julie and I to talk about our papal conclave (and PM).