It has become arguably the most contentious topic among orthodoxy-loving Catholics in the Church today – did Benedict XVI truly resign the papacy, and, consequently, was Pope Francis legitimately elected, and is he a true pope?
There are quite a number of theories surrounding this interlinked pair of questions. Theories drawn from canon law, from interior intentions, from Latin grammar, and even from little more than circumstantial evidence (ie., Benedict still dresses like a pope and is addressed as “pope” so is he still the pope?).
What can be said with certainty about this issue is that it has struck division deep into the group of Catholics who are most opposed to the novelties and errors of the pontificate of Francis, and has become a significant distraction from that work. It has divided the resistance to heterodoxy, the immune system, as it were, of the Church, as expressed by those of her members who hold fast to the Sensus Fidei.