Dr. Mazza on Benedict's Jansenist Error : Benedict's Resignation is "a Unicorn. It Doesn’t Exist. Again that would be Substantial Error because I argue he only Resigned because he thought he was still going to be Papal"
Catholic historian Edmund Mazza explains why Pope Benedict XVI's resignation appears to be in "substantial error" and is therefore not a valid papal resignation because he thought he was"still going to be papal": Then his stipulating that he’s only gonna resign to become Bishop Emeritus or Bishop of Rome Emeritus or Pope Emeritus, would mean what? If a man becomes Bishop of Rome, what does he automatically become? Vicar of Christ. So if a man becomes Bishop of Rome Emeritus, what does he automatically become? Vicar Emeritus of Christ. Does that logically follow? And if that’s true, then not only would Benedict be claiming, the way he does claim publicly in writing, that he still has an ontological connection to the Diocese of Rome that can never be severed as Bishop Emeritus, but he would also have to claim a spiritual share of Vicarship of Christ only as the Emeritus Vicar of Christ. But actually this is formal error because in the 17 th century during the h