As Pope Francis spent his sixth day in the hospital under treatment for pneumonia in both lungs, the speculations about his real health status are running crazy, with simultaneous reports about Francis being at death’s door, or else felling a bit better and showing some improvement.
Now, yet another version of future developments emerges, with former Vatican department chief of cultural affairs, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, mentioning the possibility of a Francis resignation.
Ravasi said the Pontiff is ‘decisive’, and that he might step down if his health makes him unable to fulfil his duties.
The Telegraph reported:
“’I think he could do it because he is a person who is quite decisive in his choices’, said Cardinal Ravasi in an interview with Italian radio network RTL on Thursday.”
“’He has always had the tendency to fight and react and that is a legitimate choice too, because he has been able to handle trips in very difficult and challenging conditions, like the one in the Far East’, Cardinal Ravasi said, referring to the Pope’s gruelling 20,000-mile trip last year to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
‘However, there is no question that if he found himself in a situation where he was compromised in his ability to have direct contact – as he loves to do – to be able to communicate in an immediate, incisive and decisive way, then I believe he might consider resigning’.”
The Vatican says pontiff spent a restful night in his private suite at the hospital, ‘got out of bed and had his breakfast in an armchair’.
The official bulletin states that in this evening he was improving slightly.
While the speculation is perhaps unwelcome, Francis was the one who first mentioned the possibility of resignation.
“In a wide-ranging interview he did in 2023 to mark 10 years since he became Pope, he said he would step aside if he became too tired or lacked the mental ability to lead the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.
‘The Pope is a person who, if he thinks that he no longer has the energy to carry the Church forward, would resign’, said the Rev Spadaro, a fellow Jesuit and close advisor to the Pope. ‘Benedict XVI opened up the possibility and Francis has never excluded resigning. But he has also explained that the papacy is customarily [a job] for life’.”
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