Renowned Catholic Historian: "No Pope [before Benedict]... has ever Resigned before still claim[ing] to participate in the Petrine Munus... He’s telling us in his Declarazio, that he is still Papal in some Ontological Sense"
Dr. Edmund Mazza... on EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa
in conjunction with Mazza’s July 2015 Conference at New York University
commemorating the 750th anniversary of the birth of Dante Alighieri.
In an interview on PCM, renowned Catholic historian Dr. Edmund Mazza, a former full professor of history at Azuza Pacific University, revealed that "No pope who has ever resigned before still claimed to participate in the Petrine munus... He’s telling us in his declarazio, that he is still papal in some ontological sense":
Dr. Edmund Mazza:
And then
in 2016, his personal assistant, Archbishop Georg Ganswain gave a famous
address at the Gregoriam in Rome, in May of 2016, in which he kind of
expounded on what Benedict had said in his declarazio. And he also talks
about munus and ministerium. And what this did, was it set off certain
people, like Ann Barnhardt, the blogger. And she began to wonder about
this munus and ministerium thing. And even earlier than her, other
people had as well. In the month of February, the very month when Pope
Benedict issued his delarazio, there was an Italian Canonist named
Stefano Violi, and he concentrated on that as well.
So reading
all of these people encouraged me to go back and see how does Pope
Benedict understand munus? How does he understand ministerium? And I’ll
try to put it in layman’s terms, but I’ll just preface what I’m about to
say by saying that when you talk to other people that think that Pope
Benedict might still be pope, they might have a different nuance than
myself. Most of the people who think that Benedict resigned invalidly
think that it has to do with a very tight distinction between munus and
ministerium...
... Myself, I think it has to do with multiple meanings
of the word munus. So I don’t want to lose people in the weeds here,
but let me give you a little bit from his speech, from his declarazio.
And then we’ll try to analyze my own take on that. So this is what he
says in the English translation. He says, “My strengths owing to an
advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine
ministry”. I am well aware, that this ministry because of its essential
spiritual nature must be carried out, not only with words and deeds,
but no less with prayer and suffering. Now I won’t read the Latin text,
but if you want me to, at some point I can do that...
... “Vires Meas Ingravescente aetate non iam aptas esse ad munus Petrinum
aeque administrandum.” And I can just tell you briefly, he’s basically
saying I’m no longer suited to exercising, administering, the petrine
munus. And he says, “Bene conscius hoc non solum agendomunus secundum
suam essentiam spiritualum agendo et loquendo exsequi debere, sed non
munus patiendo et orando. So he’s saying that I’m aware of the fact that
this ministry, now he translates the word ministry with munus here. He
equates them in this line. I am well aware of the essential spiritual
nature of the munus, that it’s not only carried out by words and deeds,
but it’s also carried out by prayer and suffering.
Now, this is important because in Gaswain’s speech from May of 2016, this is what Gaswain says commenting on Benedict’s renunciation of Feb 2013. The key word in that statement is munus Petrinum. Translated as happens most of the time with Petrine ministry and yet munus in Latin has a multiplicity of meanings. It can mean service, duty, guide, or gift, even prodigy. Now here’s the money line from Ganswain. “Before and after his resignation Benedict understood and understands his task as participation in such a Petrine ministry i.e., munus. He has left the papal throne and yet with the step made on Feb 11th 2013, he has not at all abandoned this ministry...
What you talking about Willis? No pope who has ever resigned
before still claimed to participate in the Petrine munus.
Patrick Coffin:
[Jokingly] Yea, Richard Nixon’s secretary never issued a statement like
that about his 1973, flying away, similarly in a helicopter. Well, he
somehow remains in the shadow of the White House, in some participatory
way. That’s very strange.
Dr. Edmund Mazza:
And the other strange thing about Pope Benedict’s renunciation, if you want to call it that is that he takes the title Pope Emeritus. Now what is that supposed to mean? Well its got something to do with what Ganswain is talking about and its got something to do with what Benedict just said in the line I quoted from his declarazio. That the papacy is not only carried out by words and deeds, it’s carried out by prayer and suffering. So on some ontological level, He’s telling us in his declarazio, that he is still papal in some ontological sense. [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/10/exclusive-transcription-is-benedict-xvi.html and https://www.patrickcoffin.media/is-benedict-xvi-still-the-pope/]
Note: About Dr. Edmund J. Mazza
Edmund J. Mazza is [a former] Professor of History at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles where he [taught] Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance and Reformation History. Dr. Mazza has contributed chapters on these subjects for Cognella Press’s forthcoming, A History of the Premodern World. Dr. Mazza is also the author of the brand new book The Scholastics and the Jews, Coexistence and Conversion and the Medieval Origins of Tolerance.
Mazza and his wife were... guests on EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa
in conjunction with Mazza’s July 2015 Conference at New York University
commemorating the 750th anniversary of the birth of Dante Alighieri. In
2012 Mazza organized “Mary, Sign of Faith: An International Symposium”
in Rome. In 2010 he was selected for a National Endowment for the
Humanities Summer Seminar, “Aristotle on Truth and Meaning” at San Diego
State University. Dr. Mazza is the author of several articles in the
online journal Catholic World Report. Mazza’s research has taken him
from the Vatican’s Secret Archives to the lost tomb of St. Francis
Xavier in Malaysia. He is a frequent guest on AM 930 Immaculate Heart
Radio’s “Terry & Jesse Show.” Dr. Mazza often speaks at the Sacred
Heart Chapel in Covina. His DVDs and CDs on Church History are available
from Lighthouse Catholic Media/St. Joseph Communications.[https://www.stthomasmore.net/event-2509968]
Pray an Our Father now for reparation for the sins committed because of Francis's Amoris Laetitia.