WI Many popes retired?

Is it possible that in the 20th century, a pope would have stepped down and started a tradition of popes stepping down before they died? What if there were two pope emeriti alive at once? Would this have major consequences for the Catholic Church? For example, perhaps in the 40s a pope emeritus could have openly disagreed with the current pope on whether to speak out against the holocaust, perhaps? What are your thoughts? And might OTL's Benedict XVI be starting a precedent that could have unintended consequences?
 
Pope Emeritus is truly an... interesting "new" development, though I'm sure it's been around longer.
 
It's certainly possible. The post of Archbishop of Canterbury used to be for life until Davidson retired, and the precedent set means that since then the only one to die in office was Temple.

So if you get a respected and long serving enough Pope (Leo XIII?), I can certainly see a repeat of this
 
In the long run, it might prove a mixed blessing. A retired Pope could be either irrelevant or influential, and there could be trouble if the incumbent and the retired are in strong disagreement.
Think of how many Japanese rulers exerted most of their de facto power as retired emperors or retired shoguns.
It would likely, however, improve the overall governance of the Church somehow, avoiding senile Popes who let curial conflict and corruption go unchecked.
It really go either way, or both.
A retired Pope could probably focus on intellectual work if he doesn't choose to just stay away in some monastery and pray unnoticed. That could shape theology in interesting ways, though probably in general encouraging conservative views (a book by a retired Pope would probably get wide audience and high regard).
But I am not sure.
As for the Holocaust thing, a retired Pope would probably share the same concerns Pius XII had IOTL that induced him to prefer discretion; otherwise, things could get very, very messy. A vague possibility is that the incumbent Pope deems safe enough to let his retired predecessor to speak out loud, a sort-of "plausible deniability" since the retired Pope is no longer speaking as the leader of the church, so removing in part the fear of outright persecution by the Nazis that operated in IOTL.
 
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