ROME — A day after Pope Benedict XVI stunned Roman Catholics by announcing that he would resign at the end of the month, the Vatican grappled on Tuesday with a series of logistical questions raised by a decision unparalleled for centuries that gave the pope 17 days to wind up his papacy.
Vatican officials said that the pope would continue his day-to-day activities until the end of the month and confirmed that appointments that had already been fixed would be maintained.
The Ash Wednesday celebration, marking the beginning of the 40-day period of Lent preceding Easter, which usually takes place in a small church on Aventine Hill, would instead be held in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican to allow a greater number of faithful to attend, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“Today, well Tuesdays for the pope have always been a day for prayer, study, reflection and preparation of his homilies, and he has a general audience tomorrow, mass in the afternoon and an important conversation with priests on Thursday,” Father Lombardi said. “It’s a likely supposition that the pope is working on these reflections that he will make in the next few days and what he has to do in the coming weeks.”
But while the pope’s life would be business as usual until the end of his papacy on Feb. 28, officials acknowledged that what would follow was a bit of a work in process.
“There are a series of questions that remain to be seen, also on the part of the pope himself, even if it is a decision that he had made some time ago,” Father Lombardi said. “How he will live afterward, which will be very different from how he lives now, will require time and tranquillity and reflection and a moment of adaptation to a new situation.”
Even though the canonic code and the apostolic constitution of the Holy See regulate the decision to resign from the papacy, the occurrence was rare enough to have caught Vatican officials off-guard. The officials, Father Lombardi said, would have to brush up on specific questions, like whether the pope’s papal ring, with which he seals important documents, would be burned, as is the case when a pope dies.
“We’ve had to take the apostolic constitution in hand and look at the norms to see what to do and adapt an unprecedented situation. There are lots of questions that are foreseen legally, but we don’t immediately have the answers,” he said.
The conclave, or gathering of cardinals that will meet to choose the pope’s successor will take place between 15 and 20 days after the resignation becomes official.
Father Lombardi said that should a new pope be elected before Easter, enabling the clergy to tend to their traditional duties, the Ash Wednesday rite will be the last formal celebration the Pope will hold in St. Peter’s.
His final audience, on Feb. 27, will be moved to St. Peter’s Square instead of the usual indoor venue used in winter “to allow the faithful to say goodbye to the pope.”
Vatican officials said that the pope would continue his day-to-day activities until the end of the month and confirmed that appointments that had already been fixed would be maintained.
The Ash Wednesday celebration, marking the beginning of the 40-day period of Lent preceding Easter, which usually takes place in a small church on Aventine Hill, would instead be held in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican to allow a greater number of faithful to attend, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“Today, well Tuesdays for the pope have always been a day for prayer, study, reflection and preparation of his homilies, and he has a general audience tomorrow, mass in the afternoon and an important conversation with priests on Thursday,” Father Lombardi said. “It’s a likely supposition that the pope is working on these reflections that he will make in the next few days and what he has to do in the coming weeks.”
But while the pope’s life would be business as usual until the end of his papacy on Feb. 28, officials acknowledged that what would follow was a bit of a work in process.
“There are a series of questions that remain to be seen, also on the part of the pope himself, even if it is a decision that he had made some time ago,” Father Lombardi said. “How he will live afterward, which will be very different from how he lives now, will require time and tranquillity and reflection and a moment of adaptation to a new situation.”
Even though the canonic code and the apostolic constitution of the Holy See regulate the decision to resign from the papacy, the occurrence was rare enough to have caught Vatican officials off-guard. The officials, Father Lombardi said, would have to brush up on specific questions, like whether the pope’s papal ring, with which he seals important documents, would be burned, as is the case when a pope dies.
“We’ve had to take the apostolic constitution in hand and look at the norms to see what to do and adapt an unprecedented situation. There are lots of questions that are foreseen legally, but we don’t immediately have the answers,” he said.
The conclave, or gathering of cardinals that will meet to choose the pope’s successor will take place between 15 and 20 days after the resignation becomes official.
Father Lombardi said that should a new pope be elected before Easter, enabling the clergy to tend to their traditional duties, the Ash Wednesday rite will be the last formal celebration the Pope will hold in St. Peter’s.
His final audience, on Feb. 27, will be moved to St. Peter’s Square instead of the usual indoor venue used in winter “to allow the faithful to say goodbye to the pope.”