Wager very carefully. Benedict says he resigned freely, not under any duress. I take that at face value. If someone is holding a gun to his head, well, I don't know about it. So Benedict is no longer pope. Period. Unless you can show the gun being held to his head. The cardinals met and elected Francis. So who should I say is pope? Benedict? At simple face value, Francis is the pope. I'm not in schism. Not yet anyway. I don't have to go through any mental gymnastics or parsing of words to not be in schism. On the other hand you have to presume that private meetings incurred automatic excommunications and that Francis was thus invalidly elected. Just not much real evidence there to wager my soul.
I think you should go through it all again but for yourself, applying a dose of skepticism. For your position doesn't really differ from Martin Luther's position. We have a pope and bishops over us. Luther tossed all of that aside in favor of his own understanding, his own 'research'.
I don't get what you mean. I think it's all to easy to say Francis isn't the real pope. Harder to say he is the real pope but a bad pope. In any event, he has brought us all to the point of schism and heresy. What a mess. A mess he could end by responding to the four cardinals dubia. That and thinking before speaking.
You are weary and upset by this pontificate your heart is filled with sadness and at times anger your mind with confusion... is it not?
But let the lord comfort you it is happening as it is written.
In 2005 Cardinal Ratzinger became pope in his first homily said
"One of the basic characteristics of a shepherd must be to love the people entrusted to him, even as he loves Christ whom he serves. “Feed my sheep”, says Christ to Peter, and now, at this moment, he says it to me as well. Feeding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God’s truth, of God’s word, the nourishment of his presence, which he gives us in the Blessed Sacrament. My dear friends – at this moment I can only say: pray for me, that I may learn to love the Lord more and more. Pray for me, that I may learn to love his flock more and more – in other words, you, the holy Church, each one of you and all of you together. Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. "
24 April 2005: Mass for the inauguration of the Pontificate | BENEDICT XVI
Jn 10: 12-13
12The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.
13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
The pope said these thing to be a prophecy of his pontificate so that you may know the hour when the wolves have come.
Yet did the hired hand in this instance really run away and leave the sheep?
In his last address pope benedict had this to say
"Here, allow me to go back once again to 19 April 2005. (His election as popr that 4 days later he would warn that wolves would come for him) The real gravity of the decision was also due to the fact that from that moment on I was engaged always and forever by the Lord.
Always – anyone who accepts the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and completely to everyone, to the whole Church. In a manner of speaking, the private dimension of his life is completely eliminated. I was able to experience, and I experience it even now, that one receives one’s life precisely when one gives it away. Earlier I said that many people who love the Lord also love the Successor of Saint Peter and feel great affection for him; that the Pope truly has brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, throughout the world, and that he feels secure in the embrace of your communion; because he no longer belongs to himself, he belongs to all and all belong to him."
The "always" is also a "for ever" – there can no longer be a return to the private sphere. My decision to resign the active exercise of the ministry does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences, and so on. I am not abandoning the cross, but remaining in a new way at the side of the crucified Lord. I no longer bear the power of office for the governance of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of Saint Peter. "
Last General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, 27 February 2013 | BENEDICT XVI
The address led to a close confidant of pope benedict xvi none other than to this day his own personal secratary to say
"Drawing on the Latin words “munus petrinum” — “Petrine ministry” — Gänswein (archbishop) pointed out the word “munus” has many meanings such as “service, duty, guide or gift”. He said that “before and after his resignation” Benedict has viewed his task as “participation in such a ‘Petrine ministry’.
“He left the Papal Throne and yet, with the step he took on 11 February 2013, he has not abandoned this ministry,” Gänswein explained, something "quite impossible after his irrevocable acceptance of the office in April 2005.“
Archbishop Gänswein: Benedict XVI Sees Resignation as Expanding Petrine Ministry
Notice pope benedict xvi very own personal secratary is clarifying his last address... he is saying pope benedict NEVER abandond the petrine ministry.... that is quite a bombshell!!! This if from pope benedict xvi own personal secratary...
But wait there is more.
Francis has rejected all the papal titles except for bishop of Rome that includes pope, supreme pontiff and Vicar of Christ
While Benedict has kept all the titles except he is now "Emeritus" however Pope John Paul II said
“A Pope Emeritus is impossible.”
However there are many many bishops who are Emeritus... and this is the only title francis took Bishop of Rome
Pope Francis officially de-emphasizes papal titles
Also from the same article we read
"The signature under Francis' official portrait is given in Italian and not Latin. While Benedict previously signed his name in Latin as "Benedictus" (and not the Italian "Benedetto"), Francis has signed his in the Italian "Francesco" (and not the Latin "Franciscus"). Additionally, Benedict's signature appeared with the initials PP following his name, standing for "pope," while Francis' does not."
Also bergoglio travels the world on an argentinan passport as jorge bergoglio anf not the holy see passport as pope francis vicar of christ head of vatican state.
Pope Benedict "had" to be there to open the door of mercy
The new francis cardinals had to go meet with benedict xvi!!!... to get his blessing???
Pope Francis gets passport to show he is a pope of the people
In short everything has been done by francis to distance himself from the papacy while benedict has done everything to remain connected to it.
So the question is why???
I will address why next time