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Socci: If Benedict's "Limited" Resignation is Valid then is "the Entire Juridical Order" Overturned where "the Law is Lost"?

 

Antonio Socci in his new book appears to be making the case that for Benedict XVI's resignation to be valid then "the entire juridical order" may have to be invalidated where "the law is lost."

Benedict's resignation said:

"[M]y strengths... are no longer suited to the adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry."

For theologian and canonist Stefano Violi the key limiting term or word in the resignation is "exercise":

"[T]he limited renunciation of the active exercise of the munus constitutes the absolute novelty of the renunciation of Benedict XVI."

Respected canonist Guido Ferro Canales says that this type of "renunciation" echoes the famous German Philosopher Carl Schmitt's "philosophical category of a 'state of exception'":

"Here, the 'state of exception' is to be understood... the suspension of the entire order of law that is in force. If this situation occurs, it is clear that the State continues, while the law is lost."

Canales explains how this applies to the "limited renunciation" that was examined by Violi:

"The pontificate of Benedict XVI became a 'pontificate of exception' by virtue of his resignation... A state of affairs that cannot be regulated a priori and thus, if it occurs, requires the suspension of the entire juridical order."
(The Secret of Benedict XVI, Pages 80-85)

Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church.

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