Papst wider Willen: Zur Geschichte eines Motivs.

This paper investigates a motif present throughout the Middle Ages in a broad variety of texts: the refusal to ascend to the papal throne after election. Gregory the Great dealt with this issue on a theoretical level in his Regula pastoralis: driven by humilitas, the Pope elect should shrink from taking on the office assigned to him, but should not insist excessively in his refusal. Despite the Biblical motivations claimed by Gregory and others, this motif is already documented in the pre-Christian era, for example in the philosophical tradition (Plato, Cicero) and among the Roman emperors starting from Tiberius. From the 8th century onwards it was no longer a literary topos, but a ritual practiced with evident regularity: the Pope elect attempted to avoid his coronation by hiding, but was soon tracked down and taken „by force“ to the Lateran Palace in solemn procession. Popes often also argued that they had not desired to be elected, especially when attempting to demonstrate that they had not arrived at the Papal throne legitimately but, for example, through simony. Gregory VII is a striking example: he presented his entire career as an imposition from the outside. In the early and late Middle Ages this ritual was definitively institutionalized; the highly formalized announcements of the Pope’s election always stressed the new Pope’s initial refusal to accept; indeed, the very blessings imparted during ordinations expressly mentioned the imposition to which he had been subjected. Benedict XVI is currently the last Pope to have ascended to the Papal throne „against his wishes“. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]