BEING HALF ITALIAN, YOU KNOW I MUST REALLY LOVE BYZANTINE CONSPIRACY THEORIES ALTHOUGH I WOULD NEVER, EVER PROMOTE THEM BUT...

...Today, as reported by Religious News Service (RSN),  the Vatican’s media guide for Saturday’s service – officially called a consistory – reproduced the oath of fidelity that the new cardinals make to the pope, but had them swearing obedience to Benedict rather than Francis.

The mistake was not repeated in the official oaths, although each of the new cardinals immediately went to greet Benedict right after receiving the distinctive red hat, or biretta, from Francis.

It reminded me to go back and reread  an article, from the Remnant Newspaper, which was posted on Pewsitter earlier in the week, which I think has since been removed that fascinated me as an Italian imbued by birth with suspicion of things. You can read it HERE and it is oh so Italian, deliciously so!

Here is a small silly excerpt:

The problem of the canonical validity of his resignation is enormous. In fact, invalidity —according to some canonists—does not regard only the case of coercion, but arises in other cases as well.

SIGNIFICANT SIGNS

For example, one may ask whether there was a contest of the will in his heart when the Pontiff made the decision—that is, he if retired interiorly as well as exteriorly. It seems a speculative question, but in the things of God's the heart, which He alone sees, is determinative.

In fact, even for the sacraments this is requisite. The consecration of the Eucharist requires matter, form and intention: if it lacks even one of these elements, the sacrament is invalid.

For example, if there is no inner intention of the priest to consecrate, if he expresses the words, but has no intention of consecrating, the consecration is invalid.

Has Benedict XVI also retired interiorly?

In addition to the language of words there is that of actions. What we see is that he has chosen to remain “in the enclosure of Peter,” to dress in white, to be called “Pope emeritus” and to continue to be called Benedict XVI (signing thus).

He also refused to change his coat of arms back to that of cardinal, still retaining one with the keys of Peter. The Vatican has said that Benedict “prefers not to adopt a heraldic emblem expressive of the new situation created by his renunciation of the Petrine Ministry.”

We know that in the Church there is also a “tacit magisterium.” Perhaps this is the case. And of course Benedict is in agreement with Francis. A beautiful mystery.

...The only official explanation lies in his speech of February 27, 2013, the one in which he clarified the limits of his decision: “Here, allow me to go back once again to 19 April 2005. The real gravity of the decision was also due to the fact that from that moment on I was engaged always and forever by the Lord.” 

Note: I emphasize that expression “always and forever” because the Pope then explained it thus: “Always—anyone who accepts the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and completely to everyone, to the whole Church (...) he no longer belongs to himself….”

Then he added, and I quote: “The ‘always’ is also a ‘forever’—there is no longer a return to the private sphere. My decision to resign the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this.”

It is amazing that a statement of this sort passed unnoticed. If words have meaning, in fact, here Benedict XVI says he renounces “active exercise of the ministry,” but the Petrine ministry, as such, is “forever” and is not revoked. In the sense that his resignation applies only to “active exercise” and not to the Petrine ministry.

What other meaning can these words have? I do not see it. Hence we must ask what kind of “resignation” was that of Benedict XVI.

That speech of February 27 seemed consistently to confirm the distinction between “active exercise” and “passive exercise” of the Petrine ministry.

 BUT THEN THERE IS THIS BOMBSHELL FROM TODAY'S CONSISTORY THAT WILL ADD FUEL TO THE FIRE OF ITALIANS WHO LOVE THIS SORT OF THING AS MAKE CLEAR ABOVE:

This is from Religious News Service (RNS) and written today and will no doubt be the gasoline needed to fuel the flames that Pope Benedict is still the pope of some kind:

...Adding to the drama of the day, Benedict was an unexpected participant at the ceremony, his first public appearance at a Vatican rite since he resigned the papacy on Feb. 28 last year following years of scandal and dysfunction in the Roman Curia.

It was the first papal retirement in six centuries and paved the way for the election of Francis two weeks later.

Benedict, who lives in a monastery on the Vatican grounds, had pledged to remain “hidden from the world” to avoid making himself a distraction.

But Francis has periodically visited the emeritus pope, and the two have been photographed together, including unveiling a statue last summer in the Vatican gardens. Benedict had never taken part in a public liturgy, however...

In an amusing sign of the potential awkwardness of such a transition, the Vatican’s media guide for Saturday’s service – officially called a consistory – reproduced the oath of fidelity that the new cardinals make to the pope, but had them swearing obedience to Benedict rather than Francis.
The mistake was not repeated in the official oaths, although each of the new cardinals immediately went to greet Benedict right after receiving the distinctive red hat, or biretta, from Francis.

Cue the Twilight Zone!