There is only one pope tonight, B the XVI died today ending an unprecedented decade in which the Catholic Church had two living popes, one reigning, one retired. In 2013, B became the first Pope in six hundred years to resign, saying that at age eighty-five, he was no longer up to the job. His successor, Pope F, is eighty-six. The path could be clear now for him to step down.

With B’s death, we are in uncharted water because he was not a sitting pope. However, we do know that starting on Monday, his body will be lying in state. And on Thursday, Pope F will preside over his funeral here at the Vatican which B continue to call home after he shocked the world in 2013 and resigned. Nothing defined B XVI pontificate so clearly as it’s ending, with his majestic farewell flight over the eternal city. B had become the first Pope in more than six hundred years to resign. He said his mental and physical strength had deteriorated to the point he had to quote “recognize my incapacity to fulfill the ministry entrusted to me”. He became Pope at age seventy-eight. He was forced to joined the Hitler Youth at age fourteen, and in 1943 was conscripted into an anti-aircraft unit in a German army. He deserted and was taken prisoner by the Americans. He entered the priesthood after the war, rose to become a cardinal, and earned a nickname Gods Rottweiler, as a rigid enforcer of church policy. Critics hit out at his slow response to the decades of cover-up of the scandal of sexual abuse by priests. And then came the scandal of leaked documents that disclosed corruption and mismanagement in the Vatican. Still, he initiated some changes of the next pope, F, would later get credit for. He began the reform of Vatican finances and was the first pope to meet with victims of sex abuse, and to publicly apologize, condemning what he called filth in the church. When he was ninety-four, a new scandal would threaten his legacy, accusation of misconduct and his handling of sex abuse cases more than four decades earlier when he was Archbishop of Munich. B’s lawyers denied any cover-up and B asked for forgiveness. A scholar who had wanted nothing more than to hide in academia, B made an indelible mark on the church and history when he became the pope who decided it was time to go. With B’s death, F is finally the only pope here. But for how long? He revealed earlier this month that he already has his own resignation letter ready to submit if his own health ever impedes his work.