As a canonist I can point out that while everyone is surprised by the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the act is clearly provided for in Canon 332, paragraph 2 of the Code of Canon Law which says roughly that if it happens that the Roman pontiff renounces his office for validity, it is required that his resignation be done freely and rightly made public, but not that it be accepted by anybody. So the new Code of Canon Law provided for this eventuality.

I remember studying in the seminary about the three popes who had resigned. One of the TV networks had a list of 10 of them, but I think they were including some of the very early popes, who when they were put in jail and scheduled to be killed for the faith, they left their office to somebody else, which obviously is not the same thing as a voluntary resignation.

In the 2,000-year-old history of the Church, only three other popes besides Benedict XVI have voluntarily resigned their positions.

One pope recognized by the Church as having resigned by free will is St. Clement I, who led the early Christian Church in the first century.

In 1294, Celestine V was chosen after a conclave that lasted three years. However, just six months into his pontificate, he announced his intention to resign because he considered himself unsuitable for the position. His resignation gave way to the canon law which allows popes to resign at free will. Pope Celestine V is now a saint of the Church. He was canonized, or recognized as a saint, after his resignation, even though Dante puts him in hell in the part of the divine comedy entitled “The Inferno.” Opinion is divided even now about Celestine V.

The third pope to announce his intention to leave the Chair of Peter was Gregory XII in 1415. His resignation is seen as a sacrificial gesture to heal the Great Western Schism at the time.

I have wondered if watching Pope John Paul II struggle in those last years of his pontificate influenced Pope Benedict, who always was a very sensitive and kindly soul and was very close to Pope John Paul II.

Another factor to consider in his decision, as was evident around the time of his election, Pope Benedict XVI was a kind of reluctant candidate. I don’t know if he expected that he would be there this long. He was 78 when he was elected and he was not in good health then. He had had a stroke as a cardinal, along with some health problems through the years. He has never been a robust person, at least in the time that I knew him in Rome.

So if he and his conscience, as he said, felt that he couldn’t do it anymore, then this is the right thing and he should be commended for it. This historic time will certainly give the theologians and administrators in the Roman Curia something to do. For years they have speculated as to what it would it be like to have a retired pope and a reigning pope at the same time. Well, all those wondering will now get their chance to find out.

Myself, I think the saner theologians always wanted to avoid this in order to avoid situations in which a retired pope might diametrically disagree with the reigning pope about some point of discipline or doctrine. On these and many questions, we will all have our chance to see the answers as we live out this history together.