Is it possible for someone to be an antipope even though the majority of cardinals claim he is pope? The case of Antipope Anacletus II proves that it is possible for a majority of cardinals to claim a man is pope while he, in reality, is an antipope. In 1130, a majority of cardinals voted for Cardinal Peter Pierleone to be pope. He called himself Anacletus II. He was proclaimed pope and ruled Rome for eight years by vote and consent of a absolute majority of the cardinals despite the fact he was a antipope. In 1130, just prior to the election of antipope Anacletus, a small minority of cardinals elected the real pope: Pope Innocent II. How is this possible? St. Bernard said "the 'sanior pars' (the wiser portion)... declared in favor of Innocent II. By this he probably meant a majority of the cardinal-bishops." (St. Bernard of Clairvaux by Leon Christiani, Page 72) Again, how is this possible when the absolute majority of cardinals voted for A...
Comments
So this fact cannot be overlooked in order to arrive with a coherence, for example, in the biblical context.
The disciples fled in fear during the Passion of Christ, but only the Mother of God and St. John the Evangelist remained before the cross of the Lord.
And Benedict XVI did not flee and remained faithful, with his white robes and apostolic blessings, until his death to this call of the Lord.
So we can look further into the canonical context according to this fact and this biblical truth.
The Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis makes this invalid abdication clearer in articles 76 and 77. Benedict XVI, a leading legislator in the same Constitution, abdicates the ministry in favor of the Petrine Munus. He knows that you can't give up like that.
So, logically, one must have recourse to canon 334, which must be analyzed in order to understand the null action of it.
Because there is a coherence in Benedict XVI's gesture with a historical fact among the popes. For example, Pope Pius VII, with the imprisonment imposed by Napoleon, he was forced to send letters to the faithful through a person close to him. Obviously, he didn't have the freedom to express himself.
I prefer to trust in the voice of the Spirit of Christ, in the example of Benedict and Peter, who cast their nets into "deeper waters" (Luke 5:4-80).
1 – the correct passage is Luke, chapter five, verses four through ten;
2 - In a recent comment, but in the same context, I commented that St. Nicodemus during the Passion of Christ fled out of fear, in the same example as the other disciples. But Nicodemus had no need to flee: he was still maturing discipleship by Jesus secretly for fear of the Sanhedrin of the Jews.