With all the controversy that surrounded the election of Pope Francis upon the resignation of Pope Benedict in 2013, it seems that Catholics may have lost sight of a key element in this episode, namely, that Benedict XVI never resigned his papal office, but only the active exercise thereof.
On the eve of his resignation, he said: "Anyone who accepts the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and completely to everyone, to the whole Church... "The 'always' is also a "forever"--there can no longer be a return to the private sphere. My decision to resign the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this." (General Audience, February 27, 2013)
