Pray for the Pope

Pope Benedict XVI

2005-2013

Pope Benedict XVI 2005-2013

Pope Benedict XVI was a controversial member of the Church. After his election, he brought back the traditional words of the Consecration of the Blessed Sacrament to the Novus Ordo Missae, and by so doing, conformed more closely with tradition.
He also allowed some Latin Masses as “extraordinary” (meaning with special permission or agreement), unlike the “normal” Novus Ordo Masses.
He acknowledged that the Society of Saint Pius X was not excommunicated, even though he never exposed The Instruction, and it remained in place.

As he was getting quite old, he resigned — which raised the question: Can a pope resign, as God is the One in control and the only One to remove a pope? Pope Benedict died on December 31, 2022, after living some nine years past his resignation, to the age of 95.

Pope Benedict had a hard time getting things done, as his directives would not be followed by his subordinates. It is reported that he told his successor that he could not get Rome to do as he ordered. Would these possibly be some of the reasons that the successor lived outside of the papal apartment? Too, I would suppose that the succeeding pope would question his own authority while the previous pope was still alive.