If a pope were to resign, what would the procedures be for the resigning pontiff? Would he have to leave the Vatican immediately? Would he be forced to live a monastic retirement in order to not give the impression of two popes alive at the same time? And what would his rank in the Church hierarchy be? Would he revert back to a cardinal or be a "pope emeritus"?

Robert--

Since there has only been one case in which the man who was indisputably pope freely resigned his office, and that case occurred over seven hundred years ago, there very likely are no official "papal resignation procedures." All that we do know for certain is that a pope must freely resign and that he merely states the fact of his resignation (he doesn't offer that resignation to anybody).

What a pope who resigns would do afterwards is open to speculation. Pope Celestine tried to retire to a solitary life but was imprisoned by his successor (likely a sign of the times). That would not be an option today, of course, although I would imagine that a resigning pope would take care not to be placed in a position of being used as a counterweight to his successor. Voluntarily entering a monastery might indeed be an option.

That said, a pope who resigns is no longer pope. There can be only one true pope at any one time. What a resigned pope's honorific and hierarchical status might be in retirement likely would be a matter decided by his successor as pope.

Michelle Arnold
Catholic Answers

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