For many it was a surprise when former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio stepped out onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica on March 13, 2013. His clothes had changed… as had his name.

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The 265th Successor of Peter, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, would thenceforth be known as Pope Francis.

This was a moment without precedent in the modern era… and it wasn’t just that Francis was the first Pope from the Americas…it had been many centuries since a non-reigning pope was alive while another was elected.

While his successor appeared before the faithful in St. Peter’s Square for the first time to deafening cheers, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who had stepped down as pope two weeks prior, was hidden away at the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, quietly watching these events on television.

What happened next would have touched the pope emeritus deeply: Pope Francis called the faithful worldwide to pray an “Our Father” and a “Hail Mary” for Benedict XVI.

“First of all, I would like to say a prayer for our Pope Emeritus Benedict. Let us pray together for him, that the Lord may bless him and Mary may protect him. Our Father who art in Heaven..”

Thus began a decade-long relationship between the two popes: one reigning, one retired.

It was a completely unexpected circumstance for Benedict XVI himself.

Ten days after his election, the new Pope visited the Pope Emeritus at Castel Gandolfo.

Vatican Analyst Delia Gallagher notes, “How strange, how strange. I think we were all amazed. It was something that was completely outside of any intellectual possibility to see two living popes and then very quickly, I think we got used to it.”

EWTN Senior Vatican Analyst Frank Rocca adds, “I mean, who has ever seen anything like that? Ever. I mean, there have been retired popes. A few, you know, over the two millennia of Church history. But no image like that. There was still a great deal of uncertainty. But I think by that point Francis had been elected, he came out to see his predecessor. And that was a very reassuring image of unity.”

This was just the first of many private encounters between the two. They were at first deferential to each other, each inviting the other to take the lead. In the end, they just shared the kneeler in the chapel reserved for the Pope.

Months later, Benedict would take up his residence at the Mater Ecclesia Monastery within the Vatican Gardens, just several hundred yards away from Francis’ own residence at the Santa Marta Guesthouse.

Rocca explains, “He chose to stay in the Vatican. He, instead of going away, he said in his last audience talk. I believe it was the last public audience. He said that for me there will be no more going to conferences and giving speeches, that I will live a life of retirement, of quiet, of isolation. So, of solitude.”

Gallagher mentions, “In the beginning it was very strange to see the two popes, as it were, one emeritus and one reigning together. But by staying there, I think it did show that he was not abandoning the Church, that he was staying, as he said in prayer in support of the Church.”

Rocca indicates, “Some people raised the question of what will be like to have two popes in the Vatican will be a conflict. I personally didn’t think so. I thought that the choice of living in the Vatican was precisely to avoid that kind of thing.”

Gallagher emphasizes, “I think it was the only choice to make in that situation because had he gone back to Germany, as he might have liked to have done. You might have had a situation really of two papacies because you would have had people going to visit the Pope emeritus. You would have had problems of security and you would have had visually an idea that he had abandoned the heart of the Church.”

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, his private secretary, stayed with him for what Benedict thought would be his last months.

Archbishop Gänswein says, “He believed that after his resignation, the Good Lord would grant him just one more year. Perhaps no one was more surprised than he when that ‘one more year’ turned into many more.”

EWTN News Contributor Alan Holdren adds, “After resigning, Benedict only officially left the Vatican walls once, and in a wheelchair, to see his dying brother, Monsignor Georg, in Germany. At the Vatican, though, he did take part in several public celebrations with Francis, especially early on.”

Particularly memorable were the canonization of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII in 2014 and the opening of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015.

The world also saw him at a handful of other events – almost always as just another participant.

Benedict’s proximity within the gardens could have been awkward, but Francis often said his was a welcome presence. At the a Meeting with Elderly, Pope Francis said:

“I have said many times that it gives me great pleasure that he lives here in the Vatican, because it is like having a wise grandfather at home. Thank you!”

And in Benedict’s own words in 2016, he was in a good place.“Your goodness, evident from the moment of your election, has continually impressed me and greatly sustains my interior life. The Vatican Gardens, even for all their beauty, are not my true home. My true home is your goodness. There, I feel safe.”

Rocca adds: “Pope Francis during the period of his papacy when Benedict was still alive, he treated Benedict with great respect and affection publicly and as far as we know, that was very sincere. And Francis said that he consulted with Benedict on certain occasions.”

“I think it was very cordial,” Gallagher adds, “Francis himself said he felt he was a wise grandfather for him and for the rest of the church. And you couldn’t have any other idea from Pope Benedict. That’s really who he was through and through. Certainly the wisdom part.”

Rocca, however, notes: “There is reason to think that perhaps Francis felt a bit intimidated by Benedict’s presence, and that once Benedict was gone, he felt he had a freer hand. That that may be the case. But that doesn’t. That doesn’t contradict… that doesn’t conflict with the idea that Francis also did have respect and affection for Benedict.”

Bavarian journalist and Benedict XVI biographer, Peter Seewald, actually asked Benedict in interviews if he ever butted heads with Francis:

“He did not comment on this, at least not to me. I always tried, of course also as a journalist, to get something out of him and he said: No, he definitely didn’t want to give the impression, not even remotely, that he was speaking out as a kind of “shadow pope” about his successor’s conduct in office.” 

And, as he carried out the Petrine ministry in Benedict’s footsteps and, in an interesting way, as Benedict himself looked on behind the scenes, Pope Francis repeatedly stressed how significant Benedict XVI’s life work was for the Church… not only his theology, but also his commitment to the victims of abuse.

Francis lauded his efforts on multiple occasions, including during a 2018 visit to an Ireland still dealing with the aftermath of abuses:

“His [Benedict’s] frank and decisive intervention continues to serve as a spur to the efforts of Church leaders to correct the errors of the past and to enact strict rules to ensure that they are not repeated.”

Benedict was known to host visitors to the Monastery. Private visits, particularly with people he already knew.

After new cardinals were made by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, one of their first stops was to the Mater Ecclesia Monastery to pay their respects also to Benedict.

Benedict and his secretary, Archbishop Gaenswein, would also pray a daily rosary out in the gardens.

Accompanying Francis in prayer, year after year.

“I think,” Gallagher says, “that Pope Benedict had a great strength of intellect, obviously, and it was something that carried him forward even with the frailty of his health.”

“I suppose that if he had remained Pope, he might not have lived 10 years because the stress, the pressure of that office is such that, you know, he might have been worn out, but he was able to rest and have a great quiet life there in Mater Ecclesia,” says Rocca.

2023 Ratzinger Prize winner, Fr Pablo Blanco Sarto, a Spanish theologian, saw great importance in Benedict’s supporting role.”

“When a Pope, in a particularly delicate moment, chooses to withdraw for prayer, it serves as a powerful example of the importance of prayer within the Church. His withdrawal is not only a personal act but also a gesture of support for the Pope who follows, especially during this ongoing process of reform and purification within the Church. This action exemplifies what he articulated in theory or in his theology—the theology of holiness.”

Benedict XVI died on New Year’s Eve in 2022 at 95 years of age, almost a full 10 years after stepping away from the Petrine ministry. His final words were “Jesus, I love you.”

Days later, Francis celebrated Benedict’s funeral, commending his soul to God:

“Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever!”

Benedict was entombed among the many other Popes in the grottoes of St Peter’s Basilica.

Thus closed a fascinating and unprecedented chapter in the history of the Church, when two Popes – Francis and Benedict XVI – lived together, as friends, in Vatican City.

“It’s probably perhaps the most historic thing about Francis’s pontificate,” Rocca adds, “we’ll have to see. Historians will have to see in time, but it may be this cohabitation, if you want to call it that of two popes, that’s extraordinary. And we’ll see if that happens again.”

“It will go down in history certainly as the first and the most remarkable period of the Papacy,” Gallagher notes, “but one that allows for a new possibility. Why not? It’s OK. The Church can adapt to something like that and can survive and perhaps even thrive.”

Live Updates following the Pope’s Passing

Adapted by Jacob Stein

Produced by Alexey Gotovskiy; Camera by Anthony Johnson, Alberto Basile; Video Edited by Alessio di Cintio