# If Francis retires while Benedict XVI is still alive, what will he be called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606 "2022-10-21T19:02:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/1 "2022-10-21T19:02:52Z")
Benedict is Pope Emeritus. Would Francis be Pope Emeritus Secundus? Pope Emeritus Minor? ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/2 "2022-10-21T19:04:38Z")
My understanding is that the use of “Emeritus” is simply a label that might apply to all people who fit the condition - it’s not a title that can only be used by one person at the same timne. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/3 "2022-10-21T19:05:03Z")
Pope Emeritusito ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/4 "2022-10-21T19:07:32Z")
Frank ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/5 "2022-10-21T21:13:58Z")
Yeah, there’s only one person who is the Pope, but there can be any number who were the Pope. It’s like asking what Obama’s title is, since Carter is already “Former President”. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/6 "2022-10-21T21:19:15Z")
He’ll also be Pope Emeritus. At one point in the early 2000’s [there were three Catholic bishops emeriti of Taipei simultaneously](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocesan_bishop). They didn’t seem to have any problems having the same title. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/7 "2022-10-21T21:25:31Z")
FWIW, Benedict was the first Catholic pope to have left office via resignation (rather than death) since the 15th century, and the first to have done so willingly since the 13th century. Also, this article indicates that Benedict, himself, chose the title; it’s not clear to me if it had ever been used previously – and, obviously, there’d been no call for such a title for 600 years. > **[Benedict’s New Name: Pope Emeritus, His Holiness Benedict XVI, Roman Pontiff...](https://www.ncregister.com/news/benedict-s-new-name-pope-emeritus-his-holiness-benedict-xvi-roman-pontiff-emeritus)** > > Vatican discloses the new forms of address for the Pope, whose last day in office is on Thursday. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2022, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/8 "2022-10-22T12:27:09Z")
Why wouldn’t it apply? _Emeritus_ is just a title indicating someone used to be… Universities call all their retired faculty “professor emeritus” and I understand that’s common for a number of other professions, either formally or informally. I give Benedict credit for recognizing that the job needs to be done by someone with the energy and the determination to change it - and with modern medicine, people no longer typically ring down the curtain and join the choir invisible in their 60’s or 70’s the way they used to. An organization like the church cannot afford a decade or two of inactivity at the top while the leader is too old. He’s basically turned it from a medieval monarchy more toward being a modern corporation. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2022, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/9 "2022-10-23T09:19:39Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Universities call all their retired faculty “professor emeritus” I think this differs by jurisdiction, but where I come from (Germany), becoming emeritus is a special form of retirement. Emeriti retire at full pay and retain some of their previous privileges, such as being supervisor to PhD students, but their teaching obligations cease. They also get to keep an office on university premises. Since then, budget cuts have abolished the privilege of emeritisation, so that only professors appointed prior to that point are grandfathered, whereas more recent appointees retire in accordance with the same rules applicable to other jobs. Generally, I think, the word “emeritus” carries the connotation of a particularly honourable way of retirement, and that is why monarchs such as Benedict, Juan Carlos and Akihito have chosen it upon their abdication. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2022, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/10 "2022-10-23T09:29:38Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > He’ll also be Pope Emeritus. Not to be confused with Papa Emeritus, of course. [![](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2H4XCNP/papa-emeritus-ii-of-ghost-in-concert-at-download-festival-at-donington-park-2H4XCNP.jpg) ](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2H4XCNP/papa-emeritus-ii-of-ghost-in-concert-at-download-festival-at-donington-park-2H4XCNP.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2022, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/11 "2022-10-23T12:13:55Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I give Benedict credit for recognizing that the job needs to be done by someone with the energy and the determination to change it - and with modern medicine, people no longer typically ring down the curtain and join the choir invisible in their 60’s or 70’s the way they used to. I don’t think it’s outside the bounds of this forum to also note that Benedict was embroiled in the controversy surrounding sex abuse by catholic priests, in that he shielded wrongdoers from accountability. It’s not unreasonable to speculate that his retirement was done to avoid any fallout from these matters. > [@](#): > > The former pope Benedict XVI has admitted providing false information to a German inquiry into clerical sexual abuse. > > Benedict, who resigned as the global leader of the Roman Catholic church in 2013, said on Monday that he had attended a meeting with local church officials in 1980 to discuss a suspected paedophile priest. He blamed a previous written statement to German investigators – in which he said he was absent from the meeting – on an editorial error. > > His admission comes four days [after a report](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/former-pope-benedict-accused-inaction-child-sexual-abuse-cases)on the investigation claimed that Benedict had failed to take action against four priests accused of child sexual abuse when he was archbishop of Munich, a position the then cardinal, Josef Ratzinger, held between 1977 and 1982, and that his denial of being at the meeting in question lacked credibility. > **[Former pope Benedict admits making false claim to child sexual abuse inquiry](https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/24/former-pope-benedict-statement-child-sexual-abuse-inquiry)** > > Ex-pontiff blames ‘editorial oversight’ for previous statement he was absent from 1980 meeting over suspected paedophile priest ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/12 "2022-10-23T18:50:37Z")
[Moderating] This is not the place for discussing Benedict’s reasons for leaving the Papacy. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2022, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/13 "2022-10-23T23:05:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Moderating] > This is not the place for discussing Benedict’s reasons for leaving the Papacy. The main point is, he set the precedent for the pope to step down - as mentioned, something not contemplated for the last many centuries. Thus, future popes will not be feeling, like Elizabeth II, that retirement/abdication is unthinkable. “Yeah, but when we elected FDR we didn’t know he’d hold onto the job like a pope…” _-Archie Bunker_ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2022, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-francis-retires-while-benedict-xvi-is-still-alive-what-will-he-be-called/973606/14 "2022-10-24T00:31:39Z")
The fact that he set the precedent (or at least, the modern precedent) is relevant for this thread, and is on-topic. The reasons why he did so are subject to speculation and are likely to lead into ugly debate, and so are off-topic for this thread. Other on-topic questions include (but are not limited to) what other figures are titled “emeritus”, and what titles were used, centuries ago, for previous resigned popes.