How many popes have resigned

Benedict cited his advanced age and deteriorating strength as the impetus for his resignation, explaining that his condition had forced him to "recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.

However, given the events that unfolded during his tenure, which exposed the Church's difficulties in adapting to a changing world and threatened the infallible status of its leader, the non-believers could be forgiven for assuming there were other factors that drove his decision.

Upon ascending to the papacy in April , Benedict was forced to publicly confront the trauma of sexual abuse by Church clergy that had bubbled to the surface after generations of suppression. The pope was already familiar with many of the troubling details, dating back to his days as prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under John Paul II , and as such he was well suited to lead the Church into the 21st century on this issue.

Benedict ended the service of Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, an influential Mexican priest with a long trail of accusations, and he became the first pope to meet with sexual abuse victims in Two years later, he personally apologized to more victims in a pastoral letter to Ireland. But Benedict also became ensnared in the wide-reaching controversy that year, when he was accused of transferring a known pedophile priest during his time as archbishop of Munich in the Vatican said that a deputy was responsible for the transfer.

According to The New Yorker , the Church defrocked offending priests from , but this was a crisis that had outgrown the efforts of one pope.

Underscoring the depth of the problem, the wrenching documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God , about the abuse of four deaf boys in the s and the Church's attempts to bury the allegations, aired shortly before Benedict stepped down. Another issue that proved problematic for the pope was the financial entanglements of the Vatican Bank.

Again, this was something that predated Benedict's papacy, as the Vatican Bank had long permitted the use of secretive accounts that invited scrutiny for potential money laundering. Benedict sought to update the Church's archaic practices by establishing the independent Financial Intelligence Authority as a watchdog, but the entrenched bureaucracy limited the potential of effective change, and in May , the Vatican Bank's president was fired for negligence.

That such a senior figure should essentially countenance a departure from the official line is significant. Essentially, Pope Benedict was a teaching Pope, a theologian and intellectual. His misfortune was to accede to the papacy at a time that there was a power vacuum, in which a number of middle-ranking members of the Roman curia, the Church's civil service, had turned into "little Borgias" as another clerical official put it. Don't take my word for it, this assessment comes from the highest source - the current leader of the Church.

And Pope Francis does not mince his words. He has described the curia as "narcissistic" and "self-referential". This is what Joseph Ratzinger had to deal with. This was what the Pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele said he wanted to expose by photocopying and leaking all those documents. But Gabriele said his relationship with Pope Benedict was like "father and son".

So why did he act in a way that was sure to embarrass a man he was clearly close to? At a certain point he couldn't take it any more," says his lawyer Cristiana Arru, clutching her rosary beads, in only her second ever public interview.

He says he saw lies being told. He thought that the Pope was being kept in the dark regarding key events. Gabriele was found guilty of "aggravated theft" and spent three months in custody before being pardoned by the Pope. But that was not the end of it. The Church's leader set up an inquiry into the whole affair. Three Cardinals produced a page report.

After Clement's death in October , Benedict returns to Rome and installed himself as pope one more time. For eight months he remained on the papal throne until Henry drove him out and replaced him with Damasus II. After this, Benedict's fate is uncertain; he may have lived another decade or so, and it is possible he entered the monastery of Grottaferrata.

No, seriously. In the late 13th century, the papacy was plagued by corruption and financial problems; and two years after the death of Nicholas IV, a new pope still hadn't been nominated. Finally, in July of , a pious hermit by the name of Pietro da Morrone was elected in the hopes that he could lead the papacy back to the right path. Pietro, who was close to 80 years old and longed only for solitude, was not happy to be chosen; he only agreed to occupy the papal chair because it had been vacant for so long.

Taking the name Celestine V, the devout monk attempted to institute reforms. But though Celestine is almost universally considered a saintly man, he was no administrator. After struggling with the problems of papal government for several months, he, at last, decided it would be best if a man more suited to the task took over.

Ironically, Celestine's wise decision did him no good. Because some did not think his abdication was lawful, he was prevented from returning to his monastery, and he died sequestered in Fumone Castle in November of At the end of the 14th century, one of the strangest events ever to involve the Catholic Church took place.

In the process of bringing about an end to the Avignon Papacy , a faction of cardinals refused to accept the new pope in Rome and elected a pope of their own, who set up back in Avignon. The situation of two popes and two papal administrations, known as the Western Schism, would last for decades. Although all concerned wanted to see an end to the schism, neither faction was willing to allow their pope to resign and let the other take over. But although the negotiations that proceeded between Gregory and Benedict looked hopeful at first, the situation rapidly degenerated into one of mutual distrust, and nothing happened -- for more than two years.

Filled with concern over the lingering break, cardinals from both Avignon and Rome were moved to do something.

In July , they met at a council in Pisa to negotiate an end to the schism. Their solution was to depose both Gregory and Benedict and to elect a new pope: Alexander V. However, neither Gregory nor Benedict would acquiesce to this plan. Now there were three popes. Alexander, who was about 70 years old at the time of his election, lasted only 10 months before passing away under mysterious circumstances. For four more years, the three popes remained deadlocked.

After months of discussion and some very complicated voting procedures, the council deposed John, condemned Benedict, and accepted Gregory's resignation. With all three popes out of office, the way was clear for the Cardinals to elect one pope, and one pope only: Martin V. Elected: April 19, Resigned: February 28, Unlike the drama and the stress of the medieval popes, Benedict XVI resigned for a very straightforward reason: his health was frail.

In the past, a pope would hang onto his position until he drew his last breath; and this wasn't always a good thing. Benedict's decision seems rational, even wise. And though it struck many observers, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, as a surprise, most people see the logic and support Benedict's decision.

Who knows? Perhaps, unlike most of his medieval predecessors, Benedict will survive more than a year or two after giving up the papal chair.

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