If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant;

if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone;

if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate;

if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion.

Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said.

This matters above everything.” 

-Confucius

Office. Ministry. Two different words, because two different categories: being and doing. As one reader put it, Pope Benedict didn’t resign being the Pope. He just announced that he would no longer be answering the phone. And that is not a valid resignation, per Canon 332.2. And as Confucius saw 2500 years ago, words, most especially in juridical contexts, are not and cannot be arbitrary. “This matters above everything.”

Ah, so….