Benedict steps into new brown shoes as ‘Pope Emeritus’

Pope Benedict XVI will now be known as ‘Pope Emeritus’ and will continue to wear white vestments, the Vatican said.

The Reverend Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s chief spokesman, told reporters that Benedict will continue to be called ‘His Holiness’ and that his title will be ‘Pope Emeritus’ or ‘Emeritus Roman Pontiff’.

He said Benedict had decided the issue himself, after consultations with experts.

According to Revd Lombardi, the former pope will wear a plain white cassock but will renounce his trademark red shoes in favour of the brown loafers he received as a gift during his 2012 trip to Mexico.

Study and prayer

With his decision, Benedict again went against what had been the conventional wisdom in Rome in the past two weeks, which said he would go back to wearing the traditional black vestments of clerics and that he would assume the title of ‘bishop emeritus of Rome’ to lessen confusion between the old pope and his successor.

Benedict’s private secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, will remain as head of the papal household — a move that already had raised questions about the unprecedented situation of two popes living a few hundred metres from each other inside the Vatican.

Benedict has said he will remain “hidden from the world” in retirement. The Vatican said he will lead a life of prayer and study.

There are 117 cardinals under-80 and thus eligible to vote for the new pope, but two have announced they won’t be in Rome for the conclave.

Benedict met the cardinals yesterday for a final farewell and then flew to his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo by helicopter.

There won’t be an official act or ceremony to mark the end of his reign, but the Swiss guards will leave their posts at the villa. His security at the complex will now be managed by Vatican police.