The phrase "a former pope" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when referring to someone who has previously held the position of pope but is no longer in that role.
Example: "The book provides insights into the life and decisions of a former pope, shedding light on his impact on the Church."
Alternatives: "an ex-pope" or "a past pope."
But having a former pope hovering in the background has proved to be disconcerting to some, not least the pontifical staff.
This is where being a former pope — something that is so rare that it shocked the world — may be a good way to live out one's days.
They include a contemporary British businesswoman, a Japanese concubine from the 13th century, a Scottish world traveler of the 19th century and, ahem, a former pope.
He cited a former pope as his role model and shed a tear when he described the pain he caused the town priest when he led an altar boy strike as a child.
With Benedict's return to Vatican City, the pope emeritus inaugurates a living arrangement as unusual as it may be unpredictable: a former pope and a current pope both living within the Vatican walls.
The book's protagonist is eighty-one-year-old Kenneth Toomey, a mediocre novelist who is called to write an account of an alleged miracle by a former pope that Toomey alone witnessed.
It is not just that the Vatican works in mysterious ways: there is a report on Church governance, corruption, and, perhaps, other misdeeds, put together by three cardinals, that is, as the Wall Street Journal noted, "locked in a safe in the former Pope's sealed apartment," which can't be opened until there is a new Pope.
But Francis has encouraged Benedict to come out once in a while, and the former pope has not only taken part in some public events but also made his views known in letters and other communications.
But electing a new pope while the former pope is still alive?
"The theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge," former pope John Paul II said in a speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican in October 1996.
Throughout it, the former Pope displays an astounding emotional and religious indifference.
