The Church must clarify its legislation about the role retired popes should play in future, says Professor Thomas Schüller.
Schüller is the head of the Canon Law department at Germany’s Münster University.
He is one of several German theologians who have called on the Vatican to establish clear canonical regulations for future popes who resign their office.
“There must only be one pope in the Roman Catholic Church and it is, therefore, most confusing that when Benedict XVI resigned, the new expression ‘Pope-emeritus’ was coined as it merely leads to confusion,” Schüller says. Read more