VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican’s chief diplomat and Secretary of State has once again rejected suggestions from the mainstream media that Pope Francis might resign.
Addressing journalists after an event in Rome Monday, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin moved to swiftly do away with the notion of a papal resignation amidst Pope Francis’ ongoing hospitalization.
“No, no, no, absolutely not,” said Parolin late Monday night.
Such a firm answer came in response to media questions about a possible resignation on the part of Pope Francis, who is now marking his 32nd day in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he is being treated for double pneumonia.
“I believe that we must follow the medical reports, because they are the ones that tell us exactly how the Pope is,” said Parolin in response to queries about the Pope’s condition.
“I met with him a week ago, and then I didn’t have the opportunity again; he seemed better than the first time, but this is only an external evaluation,” added the cardinal, referencing his March 9 meeting with Francis in hospital.
READ: Vatican journalist says it’s ‘unthinkable’ for Pope Francis to ever resume normal schedule
Questions about the Pope’s health and future have exponentially intensified in the days following his admission to hospital on February 14.
Fueled in part by a secular understanding of the papacy, but chiefly by the precedent set by Pope Benedict XVI, secular media outlets have persistently raised the question of a papal resignation.
Francis himself in 2022 said he gave a pre-written resignation letter to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who was then serving as the Secretary of State, in 2013 in the event of an “impediment due to health reasons.”
But he has never given any support to the idea of a resignation, seeming to tolerate the question in multiple interviews rather than treat it as a serious proposal. He has famously quipped that the papacy requires a good head, not good knees.
Francis’ aides and a number of cardinals have equally consistently rejected this notion of resignation, saying that Francis will continue as pope. Parolin himself has stated this previously, describing any talk of resignation as “useless speculation.”
Indeed, this is also the view of Vatican sources, who have commented that Francis could not envisage relinquishing the papacy to retire.
Notwithstanding that, the Francis pontificate will certainly never be the same again, even working on the assumption that the Pope makes enough of a recovery to return to the Vatican. Though doctors declared March 10 that he is no longer in imminent danger, his situation remains complex. No date or plan for his hospital discharge has been made known as yet.
The Vatican released an image Sunday, taken from behind Francis and without showing his face. The image only further fueled speculation about a pope who is much more seriously ill than is being officially reported.
The fact that he has not appeared at the hospital window even once during his stay, and that he is still using oxygen as a norm, also suggests that any return to the Vatican would see a much more withdrawn pope, by virtue of utter necessity.
From the secular perspective, seeing an increasingly frail pope – perhaps using oxygen while being pushed in his wheelchair for official activities – will very likely lead to renewed ideas about a papal resignation.
Though a resignation is indeed catered for in Canon Law, Canon 332 §2 stipulates that any resignation must be free and without coercion in order to be valid.
But supporters and critics of Francis alike have warned against a resignation. Such an instance, coming on the back of Benedict’s own resignation, would further harm the papacy and destabilize it – creating the understanding for people that it is a job to be accepted and put aside, rather than a sacred charge and office with weighty responsibility.
READ: Cardinal Müller says resignation should ‘not be an option’ for Pope Francis
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, a friend and supporter of Benedict XVI, has often lamented the late pope’s resignation for the harm it caused to the papacy.
Addressing rumors of Pope Francis’ resignation recently, Müller declared that the resignation of “any pope” should generally “not be an option.”
“One does not descend from the cross, just as it says in Holy Scripture,” he added. “Popes should not be subject to the criteria of political or military leaders who eventually retire. I see no place for functionalism in the Church, only for witness.”
