That would have to be a very long coma, if not a state of suspended animation.
It would require a pope being elected at a relatively young age and then becoming incapicitated almost immediately and staying that way for decades.
Which raises yet another question–if a pope does abdicate, what title does he hold, if any? Is he “demoted” back to cardinal? Is he considered something along the lines of a “pope emeritus?” Or does abdication entail leaving the clergy entirely, making him an ordinary layman?
I don’t think Cardinal is considered to be the precursor to Pope. Indeed, you don’t need to be a Cardinal, even if that is often de facto the case. They would not get defrocked unless they also did something bad. I don’t think bishop is even implied.
Benedict IX - resigned (twice I believe) because he was a scumbag and did it for money. Not much record on him after he was completely done.
Celestine V - preferred to be a hermit. Was later recalled, imprisoned, and possibly killed. I am going to assume that hermit = no position of power, safe no?
Gregory XII - did so to keep the peace after the Western Schism, where there were two antipopes. “Peaceful obscurity” that suggests he probably didn’t participate in politics.
Just to let you know, you have responded to a seven year old thread. Some of the participants have moved on.
So has the Pope.
The question is, if the Pope dies, then returns as a zombie, is he still Pope? Can the cardinals go on with the election process, or do they have to destroy his brain first?
I think he would need to go to Confession, if not immediately then soon, because isn’t eating brains a mortal sin?
Only during Lent, I think.
Fridays in Lent
You don’t even need to be a priest, really.
I was responsible for the death of two Popes. If retirement was a possibility, that would have been a lot easier.
He hath ressurected.
Not exactly. The club in question is the 1 iron, the iron club with the smallest face and flattest angle, and therefore the least loft – which means that it theoretically hits for the longest distance. Also called the driving iron, it’s virtually obsolete because its geometry makes it very hard to hit a good shot with it, and there are fairway wood clubs that will do just as well. Lee Trevino was nearly hit by lightning at the 1974 Western Open, and is reported to have said that if the same situation came up again, he’d hold his 1 iron in the air – “because not even God can hit a 1 iron.”
The traditional procedure was for the Papal Camerlengo to smash the deceased Pope’s skull with a silver hammer.
This is the most likely scenario. If the pope is incapacitated, they’ll prop him up and wheel him out, if possible, to make the odd (very odd) public appearance, thn trot him back to his little room, lock him up, and the grey eminences will run the show from behind the curtains.
The pope appoints a mess of underlings to do various jobs, the equivalent of secretary of state, secretary of finance, etc. plus deputy head for the college of cardinals. These guys stay in their jobs, and unless a real vicious office politics infighting breaks out, they run things quietly and without making waves or setting out on significant policy changes, and everything coasts until it is time for fresh blood (fresh brains?). the pope’s implied number two man will run the show.
I suppose the Vatican’s worst nightmare is Alzheimers, a physically strong and capable pope with diminished mental capacity and erratic behaviour. Again, the back rooms recognize this and would take the same steps. The guys who used to share a beer with the pope when they were back in the College of Cardinals together are not going to suddenly defer to him, even as a raving looney just because he’s pope. They will recognize he’s having “issues” and take the necessary steps to prevent him from damaging himself or the church’s reputation. (Similar to King George III, I assume). The biggest danger is when he is slipping away but the significance of the problem is still unclear…
Not quite – there is a nuance.
The Code of Canon Law, Can. 332 ß1, provides that the newly-elected Pope acquires full and supreme power in the Church when, together with episcopal consecration, he has been lawfully elected and has accepted the election. This means he must be a bishop in order to become Pope.
It does not, however, prevent the cardinals from electing any baptized male. If the College of Cardinals should happen to choose someone who did not already “have the episcopal character,” canon law requires that the man elected is immediately to be ordained as bishop.
Yes, but that’s after-the-fact of the actual election. If the spirit moves the College to elect Giuseppe Bagadonutsi the shepherd boy as Pope, he would be slated to be ordained and consecrated, but they still elected Giuseppe Bagadonutsi, the shepherd boy, not Giuseppe Bagadonutsi the priest/bishop/cardinal.
I know this was a whoosh, but do they still really and truly tap a pope on the head with a hammer to see if he’s still alive?
I don’t think there is one. Or at least wasn’t one in the late Medieval period, which was sort of the hey-day of ex-popes and ex-anti-popes.
When the anti-pope John XXIII (not to be confused with the more modern pope of the same name) was forced to resign, he went to Florence where the Medici for various reasons wanted to legitimize his former papacy. When he died, to reinforce the fact that he’d been a ‘real’ pope before resigning, they put “former pope (“quondam papa”) John XXIII” on his tomb instead of just “Cardinal John”.
Presumably if there was a standard title for ex-popes, they would’ve used that instead of the somewhat awkward sounding “former pope”.
No, but the Pope is still declared dead by the Camerlengo rather than by a doctor. Of course, the Camerlengo does so based on what the doctors say.