The resignation or is it the retirement of Cardinal Njue, has elicited serious debate both on the social media as well as main stream media. The fundamental question being asked and whose answers even the senior journalists get wrong is this: Did the Cardinal retire or resigned?

I want to do a thread here so that my friend @engmagero17 and others may get to understand the whole thing.

For starters, the Catholic Church as an institution is Governed by the supreme law known as the Code of Canon Law and just like the Civil law there are those men and women who specializes on the Constitution who are lawyers...

In the Church those who have studied the Canon Law are called the Canonists. The Canon Law is divided into major sections known as Books: It has a total of 7 Books. Each book is further divided into Parts and the parts are then divided into Titles and the Titles into Chapters.

And chapters into Articles. So the matter at hand which is the resignation or retirement of the Diocesan Archbishop or Bishop is found in the Code of Canon Law (CCL) as follows: It is in Book II titled: The People of God, Part II: The Hierarchical constitution of the Church....

... Section II: Particular Churches and their groupings under Title I: Particular Churches and the authority established in them; under Chapter II: Bishops in Article II: Diocesan Bishops. The specific Canon, Can. 401 §1.

Can. 401 §1. Reads as follows "A diocesan bishop who has completed the seventy-fifth year of age is requested to present his resignation from office to the Supreme Pontiff, who will make provision after he has examined all the circumstances."

This is the Canon that is has made Cardinal Njue to cease being the Local Ordinary or the Archbishop of Nairobi. The Canon talks of resignation and NOT retirement. So Plainly the Cardinal resigned as the Archbishop of Nairobi. SO why resignation and not retirement?

Remember the Office of Bishop in which Cardinal Njue was and continues to be is derived from the sacrament of ordination hence the permanent mark of the sacrament, that one cannot cease being a PRIEST in so far as the sacrament is concerned.

The Bishops are the successors of the Apostles hence through the episcopal consecration they are constituted as Pastors and the Priests who are not Bishops are their immediate helpers in the function of taking care of the flock entrusted to the Bishop.

For this reason, one can never retire as a Priest or a Bishop in so far as it is a sacrament. However, the practice of the office or the fulfillment of responsibilities that pertains to the office of Pastor or Bishop which are sanctifying, teaching and governing the church.....

A Bishop can resign from them or can retire to mean not to be actively involved in the day to day life of the church. This curtailment could be due to several reasons one of which is the age factor in which a person is considered to mzee or old to continue performing effectively

In the Catholic Church the statutory resignation age is 75 years for those Bishops/Archbishops working in the Dioceses. They are mandated to write a letter to the Roman Pontiff (Pope) informing him that they have reached the age of 75 years hence they want to resign from office

The resignation if accepted by the Pope as in the case of Cardinal Njue, means the that the affected Bishop ceases to be at the head of the local church (Diocese/Archdiocese) in terms of Governance, teaching and sanctification functions.

However, the affected Bishop does not cease being a Bishop or Pastor in so far as the sacrament is concerned. For this reason they are always requested to preside over some liturgical functions with the authorization of the 'reigning' Bishop or Archbishop.

I think I have explained something and clarified some issues.

So in short Cardinal Njue resigned as the Archbishop of Nairobi hence we can as well say he has Retired as the Archbishop of Nairobi as a matter of synonyms. And with that he acquires a new title The Archbishop Emeritus John Cardinal Njue.