Wider World by CS

With Benedict’s Return, Vatican Experiment Begins

Vincenzo Pinto/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, arrived by helicopter at the Vatican on Thursday, two months after his retirement.

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

VATICAN CITY — When Benedict XVI, the pope emeritus, returned to Vatican City on Thursday, two months after his retirement, he inaugurated a living arrangement as unusual as it may be unpredictable.

L'Osservatore Romano, via Associated Press

Benedict XVI, the pope emeritus, left, was welcomed by Pope Francis as he returned to the Vatican on Thursday.

Will Pope Francis head to Benedict’s new home, the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, inside the Vatican walls, for heart-to-hearts with the one living man who understands the burdens of leading the world’s more than one billion Roman Catholics? Will they casually bump into each other while strolling the landscaped gardens of the tiny sovereign state of Vatican City?

Or will they studiously avoid contact, to squelch any concerns about the potential influence — deliberate or not — that the retired pope may have on his successor?

“It’s all a very new situation — there are no examples of any kind,” said Roberto Rusconi, a church historian at Roma Tre University. He said the nuts and bolts of the cohabitation “will really depend on the new pope and how he chooses to develop the relationship.”

Benedict, in any case, received a heartfelt homecoming when he arrived by helicopter on Thursday afternoon, after staying for two months at the summer papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, southeast of Rome. Some of his former advisers turned out to form an ad hoc welcoming committee at the Vatican helipad, though Francis was not there; he waited for Benedict at the monastery, “welcoming him with great and fraternal warmth,” according to a Vatican statement. The two then went to the chapel of the monastery “for a brief moment of prayer,” the statement said.

The meeting was their second since Francis became pope: On March 23, 10 days after his election, Francis went to Castel Gandolfo for lunch.

That occasion was also the only time Benedict had been seen in public since leaving the Vatican, and he appeared tired and frail, raising concerns about his health. On Thursday night, the Vatican released photographs of Benedict and Francis together.

Vatican officials say Benedict is not suffering from any specific illness, and link his decline to age. “He’s 86, and the last eight years took their toll,” the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, said Thursday. Benedict became pope in April 2005.

Benedict will live at the monastery with his secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who is also the prefect of the pontifical household, and the four women of the Memores Domini Lay Association — an offshoot of the Communion and Liberation movement — who have been part of the papal household for years, cleaning and cooking the pope’s meals.

In the past, the pontifical household included a vast cast of characters that ministered to the pope, including barbers and official wine tasters, according to Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, a historian specializing in the papacy. But more modern papacies have streamlined the retinue to a skeleton staff.

Francis still has no household staff, not even a personal butler. Since his election, he has declined to move into the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, preferring to remain in the Casa Santa Marta, the modest Vatican City guesthouse where the cardinals stayed during the conclave.

“He likes to eat with others, so there’s no need for a butler,” Father Benedettini said.

The Mater Ecclesiae Monastery was restored for the pope emeritus’ arrival. The small cells were restructured to make them more comfortable, “though they are still quite small,” Father Benedettini said, and a room was transformed into a study where Benedict can receive guests. His piano was moved in, and his books and papers now fill the shelves of a library. A bedroom has been set aside for visits by the pope’s older brother, Georg Ratzinger, who is a priest in Germany.

The Vatican covered the costs of the restoration and will cover the pope emeritus’ living expenses, Father Benedettini said.

Nearly 20 years ago, Pope John Paul II designated the monastery as an international center “for contemplative life within the walls of Vatican City,” as it is described on a Vatican Web site.

Since then, four orders of nuns have occupied the Mater Ecclesiae, praying for the pope and the church, a task the pope emeritus has pledged to continue.

“It’s a very quiet place,” said Sister María Begonia Sancho Herreros, who lived in the convent until November, when renovations began. “It invites one to prayer.”

Vatican officials have repeatedly tried to assuage concerns that Benedict could influence the new pope by his proximity. And they have dismissed the objections of those who have remarked on the dual role of Archbishop Gänswein, who lives with the pope emeritus as his secretary, even attending public outings with Francis, as he juggles his day job as the prefect of the pontifical household.

Vatican journalists have reported that Francis will probably complete an encyclical that Benedict was working on when he retired, much like Benedict’s first encyclical was based on the writings of John Paul II.

But the rest is uncharted waters.

The retired pope and the reigning pope “have a relationship of friendship and respect,” Father Benedettini said. “I think that there will be a certain amount of spontaneity.”