While continuing his pharmacological medical therapy in a hospital environment, Pope Francis could be forced to resign. These three clues give a serious trend.
Admitted for almost a month to the hospital, Pope Francis suffers from pneumonia of the two lungs, but an improvement should be noted in recent days. “Lhe doctors have decided to raise the prognosis “announced the Vatican in his press release Monday, March 10. The 88 -year -old sovereign pontiff However, should continue “pharmacological medical therapy in a hospital environment” adds the Holy See. Pope Francis would still present symptoms of pneumonia, without these endangered.
This fragile health still feeds speculation as to a possible resignation from the Pope. This is what his predecessor Benoit XVI did in 2013, no longer feeling to play his role. Before the latter, it is necessary to go back to Pope Grégoire XII who had left his functions in 1415. Canon law allows, in fact, a renunciation of the Pope, as long as it is “freely and duly manifested”, that is to say without external pressure. Indeed, Canon 332 ensures that the pope’s renunciation results from a “personal decision that no one can impose” on the latter abounds a Roman canonist in the columns of the cross. This is the first reason why the Pope is able to resign: the law of the Church allows it.
A consistory before resignation?
But that’s not all. On February 25, Pope Francis summoned an “ordinary consistory” without specifying the date. In other words: a meeting of cardinals in Rome with the canonization of new saints on the agenda. It was precisely with a similar agenda that Benoit XVI had announced to the general surprise of his resignation. According to Bernard Lecomte, French specialist in the papacy: “The canonizations, he doesn’t care, it’s not like John Paul II. It is a pretext, behind which perhaps hides the inclinations of a resignation,” he said to the Parisian.
“If betting had to be made, there is at least 10 % chance that he announces his renunciation” during this consistory, confides a Vatican source to the Parisian. For his part, Pope Francis assured that we govern “with the head and not the legs”. He would also like to hold until the end of the jubilee: this current event takes place every 25 years in the Vatican and attracts thousands of Catholics who make a pilgrimage to Rome. It is a privileged moment of conversion, forgiveness and remission of sins. It will last until January 6, 2026.
According to Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, with the Italian radio RTL 102.5, the sovereign pontifies “could decide to resign if he was in a situation where his ability to have direct contact, to communicate immediate, incisive and decisive manner was compromised”. This is precisely what brings us to the third reason why the Argentinian Jesuit could resign and probably the most obvious, his state of health.“We are approaching Holy Week, the main highlight of the year for Catholics. In the current state of things, he cannot assume it,” recalls Antoine-Marie Izoard, ex-responsible for the Saint-Siège news agency, always with daily life.
On March 6, Pope Francis released a voice message to the faithful to try to reassure them. Unfortunately, he had rather had the opposite effect. His chevant voice had worried the Catholic world. “”We are in a waiting situation, and there will be no surprise effect if we learn that the Pope renounces, “regrets a regular from the Roman Curia with the Cross.
Pope Francis, however, already signed, shortly after his election in 2013, a letter of resignation if his health ever came to prevent him from exercising. For two big names from the Cardinaux College,, Jean-Marc Aveline de Marseille and Juan José Omella Omella de Barcelona, ”everything is possible”, as Repubblica reports, especially since hospitalization is extended and that the Pope is relatively old. However, in some, hope remains: “The number one option in our minds is … that he heals and continues”, confidesAn employee of the Vatican in the Parisian. In a few days, Pope Francis will start his second month of hospitalization.