A German ministry has ruled that the Pope can keep his German passport (Germany does not allow dual citizenship). That's not why I wanted to post this, though. Apparently he will "probably" have to obtain a new passport "after changing his name", and the article notes that "Deutsche Welle said the new document would cost the pope approximately $30, but added that he would be able to pay with Vatican coins bearing his own profile." So cool!
I don't think though, despite reports of German government agencies spontaneously changing records to conform to his new name, that his legal name has changed. Benedict XVI is ... not sure what you'd call it, perhaps "official" name or ruling name, but he doesn't abandon his Christian name entirely. In fact the old rites for determining if a Pope is dead has the camerlingo calling the Pope by his baptismal name. So I don't know why the eagerness to update official documents.
Do "Vatican" coins also have pictures of priests molesting little boys?
Hi, Eric. Did you mean to show a passport from the era when Germany was called an "empire" (Reich)?
Hey, I did a Google search for "German Passport" and picked a servicable image without paying attention to the German. So sue me. :-)
Ok, the Panzerkardinal is no longer a Nazi.
"Hi, Eric. Did you mean to show a passport from the era when Germany was called an "empire" (Reich)?"
A Google Freudian slip, perhaps? ;-)