Pope and Anti-Pope

It was like the exit of a long-running soap opera character, wasn't it?  The Pope's departure today, I mean.  He gives his last address before being whisked away in a helicopter.  To his Summer residence, apparently.  All worthy of Joan Collins really.  Anyway, he's no longer the Pope, but instead Pope Emeritus.  Which sounds as if it could become very confusing once a new Pope is elected.  A bit like when the Queen Mother was still alive and her official title was Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, despite the fact that the reigning monarch, her daughter, was Queen Elizabeth II.  Not that her mother had been the first Queen Elizabeth as she hadn't been the monarch, despite the title, which she only held by virtue of having been married to the reigning King.  All very confusing.  Especially when I was a child.  Quite what a Pope Emeritus does is unclear.  Again, perhaps the analogy with the Queen Mother is apt.   Maybe he can spend his time wearing silly hats and being right-wing.  Actually, that's what he did when he was Pope proper, wasn't it?

I'm actually quite disappointed that former Pope Benedict hasn't set himself up as an Anti-Pope.  Time was that they were very popular.  Indeed, I'm pretty sure that the last Pope to resign did so in the midst of one of those disputes between rival Popes and Anti-Popes.  At the peak of their popularity, there were two Anti-Popes as well as the regular Pope, all competing for hegemony over the whole Roman Catholic church.  If the current Church wants to raise its profile, then a new Anti-Pope could be the answer.  They could turn it into some kind of reality TV show with Pope and Anti-Pope vying to become ultimate leader of the Church.  It would work much better, of course, if they elected some trendy radical Cardinal as the new Pope, with a reformist agenda including allowing gay priests, contraception and abortion.  Then Benedict could set up as the Anti-Pope representing traditional Catholic values of bigotry and knee-jerk reactions to any issue.  Perhaps he could advocate the return of the Spanish Inquisition as well.  If that didn't spark a debate, nothing would,  But sadly, it's unlikely to happen.  The Vatican is just too conservative.