# Interim Pontiff? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537 "2025-04-26T14:06:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/41 "2025-05-01T21:54:38Z")
And they have _a lot_ of experience handling this scenario. Modern times, it’s not like some interregna in Ye Olde Tymes when it would take them years to come up with someone. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/42 "2025-05-02T02:37:46Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Well, yeah, they can fool the humans - but what I never understand about these people is what difference does it make if they get an annulment. If you are going to lie and say you never planned to be faithful , why do you want the annulment rather than just getting a divorce? If you believe in the religious stuff, God will know the truth and if you don’t believe in it, who cares? I suppose too it’s all about the social expectations, too, about getting married in the Catholic church. The scenario I saw more often was the second (or trophy?) wife being younger and never married, who wants to satisfy her family and have the traditional Catholic wedding. So the groom needs annullment of his previous marriage. Friend of mine was looking to get married a second time, precisely this scenario. He wasn’t Catholic, but his previous wife (and marriage) had been. His new (future) wife was never married before. and when they went to the interview with the priest, he was skeptical of his seriousness - “Tell me why I shouldn’t just send you down the street to the United Church…” Nevertheless, they did get married in the Catholic church. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2025, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/43 "2025-05-02T08:31:57Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Otherwise, you are saying; "Hey, for the next three months, albeit as limited though it may be, this person will be infallible but, after that, he is a regular person again. That’s exactly what’s happening. If a pope teaches _ex cathedra_ to settle some theological dispute, he is considered infallible (hasn’t happened in a while, but let’s suppose he does). If the same pope then, ten minutes after the _ex cathedra_ pronouncement, does something else, he’s fallible and a sinner again. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/44 "2025-05-02T11:28:33Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > And they have _a lot_ of experience handling this scenario. Agreed, because the large majority of popes haven’t retired, they’ve croaked in office. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/45 "2025-05-03T13:12:39Z")
The current pope is a bit of an exception this way. With modern medicine, people can live much longer than before, long pst the time when they have the energy to manage a large organiation. Benedict seems to have realized this and decided it was better to let someone with more vigor take the reigns, so he defied tradition and retired. With several popes in the last century or so, the last few years they were lacking the energy to address the church’s issues in a fast-paced modern world. So now it’s more like a CEO job than a monarchy, I suppose. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/46 "2025-05-03T13:20:10Z")
Abdicating to enjoy one’s last years in retirement has become popular among European monarchs too. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/47 "2025-05-03T13:34:45Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Benedict seems to have realized this and decided it was better to let someone with more vigor take the reigns, so he defied tradition and retired. I thought it was that he was starting to suffer from dementia ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/48 "2025-05-03T13:51:00Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > The current pope is a bit of an exception this way. Do you mean “papacy” instead of “pope”? Because _non habemus papam_. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2025, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/49 "2025-05-03T14:13:35Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Benedict seems to have realized this and decided it was better to let someone with more vigor take the reigns, so he defied tradition and retired. That wasn’t in defiance of tradition. He wasn’t the first Pope to choose to resign. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/50 "2025-05-03T14:15:14Z")
> **Wrong forum** > > This appears to be a genuine White House account: > [https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1918502592335724809](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1918502592335724809) > > And since no-one else has mentioned it; > [https://youtu.be/3f72CTDe4-0?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/3f72CTDe4-0?feature=shared) ---
**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:** [May 3, 2025, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/51 "2025-05-03T14:32:51Z")
[Moderating] @PatrickLondon , you might have lost track of what forum you were in. Pay better attention in the future. This is FQ. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/52 "2025-05-03T14:48:29Z")
There was really only one other one who could have been said to have resigned that is historically confirmed and wasn’t under pressure. It was over 800 years prior and he only served for a few months and his election was a weird fluke. It’s objectively very fair and correct to say that it defied tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/53 "2025-05-21T16:27:52Z")
Longest conclave in the last 100 years has been 5 days. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2025, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/54 "2025-05-22T10:13:00Z")
Indeed, the month- or year-long conclaves are a thing of the past; nowadays it’s a pretty swift affair (albeit still with a lot of ceremonial pomp). I suppose that’s because with modern facilities for communication and travel, the cardinals have tons of opportunities ahead of the actual conclave (possibly even while the previous pontiff is still alive) to discreetly talk to each other and sound out each other’s support for different candidates; it’s not as if they meet for the first time in the actual conclave and have to start from scratch building a majority. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/55 "2025-05-24T12:43:47Z")
Also, deadlock (failure to get 2/3 majority) is generally a feature of polarization and unwillingness to compromise. Considering the pope selects the cardinals, and they age out at 80yo, each pope has a pretty good chance of stacking the deck for like-minded people before they ring down the curtain and join the choir invisible. This becomes a consistent process as the next pope will therefore be likeminded and continue down the same path, or at least not diametrically opposed to the current trend - and appoint appropriate cardinals in turn. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537/56 "2025-05-24T14:02:13Z")
In Ye Olden Tymes when the Church was much closer to being the government, the stakes were vastly higher. Lots more room for grift & graft, lots more real power to be dispensed by the Pope to his favored ~~cardinals~~ minions, etc. In that environment if you hitched your career to potential pope A, and somebody else hitched their career to potential pope B, not a lot of room to change sides. I think that nowadays the drivers for polaraization are reduced. Yes, there are doctrinal differences, buy you and your career (and side income) being terminated by the wrong pope getting in is not nearly the worry it was 200 or 500 or 1000 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interim-pontiff/1017537.md?page=2)