BENEDICTS POST RETIREMENT TITLE AND GARB WORRIES VATICAN OFFICIALS

 

Pope Benedict XVI

As the countdown of Pope Benedict XVI retirement commences, some watchers of activities at the vatican are wondering what the retired pope will be wearing. Pope Benedict XVI  will be known as "emeritus pope" in his retirement and will continue to wear a white cassock, a situation Vatican believes will be fueling concerns about potential conflicts arising from having both a reigning and a retired pope.

The pope's title and what he would wear has been a major source of speculation ever since Benedict stunned the world and announced he would resign on Thursday 28th February 2013, the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, says Benedict himself had made the decision in consultation with others, and they settled for Your Holiness Benedict XVI, emeritus pope or emeritus Roman pontiff, adding that he didn't know why Benedict had decided to drop his other main title: bishop of Rome.

Since Benedict's resignation announcement, Vatican officials had suggested that Benedict would likely resume wearing the traditional black garb of a cleric and would use the title "emeritus bishop of Rome" so as to not create confusion with the future pope.

Masquerade234 gathered that Pope Benedict's XVI decision to call himself emeritus pope and to keep wearing white is sure to fan concern voiced privately by some cardinals about the awkward reality of having two popes, both living within the Vatican walls.