If clothes and titles ‘maketh the man’, after two weeks of consultations with aides, theologians and historians, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict will be known as “pope emeritus Benedict XVI” or “Roman Pontiff emeritus Benedict XVI”.
The retired pope will continue to be addressed as “Your Holiness,” but be referred to as “His Holiness Benedict XVI”.
In addition, Benedict will lay aside the red “shoes of the fisherman” that have been part of his papal attire and wear brown loafers given to him by shoemakers during a trip to Leon, Mexico last year.
He will wear a “simple white cassock”, Lombardi said.
Benedict’s lead seal and his ring of office, known as the “ring of the fisherman”, will be destroyed according to Church rules, just as if he had died.
Sources
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