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Vatican – The pain became apparent five months ago when Pope Francis first began avoiding standing up. “Inflamed knee ligament,” the pope said, noting that the condition is common in the elderly. He described it as a problem that will soon pass. But by the end of April, he said his right knee was “still not healing.” Shortly afterwards, he used a wheelchair.
“I would like to apologize,” he said, telling pilgrims one morning that he could not greet them on foot as usual.
Francis is still hoping that the break can restore his mobility. But in the meantime, his daily life has changed along with the very image of his pontificate: at 85, it is impossible to miss his weakness.
Pope Francis was struggling to walk again when he arrived for the weekly general audience at the Vatican on May 18, suffering from a bout of knee pain. (Video: Reuters)
This brought to the fore the questions of Francis’ future – whether his pontificate was nearing its end and whether he could consider retiring.
Those inside and familiar with the Catholic Church are talking more seriously than even a year ago after Francis underwent colon surgery to deal with a painful bowel condition.
And while the pope’s dependence on a wheelchair is a major factor in speculation, it has been heightened by his decision to convene a consistory on August 27 and appoint 21 new cardinals, including 16 younger than 80, who would be eligible to vote in a conclave. This huge influx means that Francis will have chosen more than 60 percent of the figures who will choose his deputy, increasing the chances – albeit unlikely – of a successor with such thoughts.
For some Vatican observers, this is a sign that Francis is in a hurry to prepare the church for his departure.
“What is clear is that his pontificate has entered a declining final phase,” where the resignation is becoming more feasible, said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Vilanova University. “He is aware that he is nearing the end of his pontificate.”
Provided that Francis is still at work until the end of October, he will become the oldest acting pope since Leo XIII, who died in 1903 at the age of 93.
Francis, for his part, said that when the pope is ill, conclave talks always follow as a “breeze or hurricane.”
But whether the end point will come in months or years can be guessed, and this pontificate is typical of surprises.
In recent days, some Italian and international news reports have suggested that the pope’s abdication may be at hand – a theory based not so much on hard evidence as on raising eyebrows over a series of unusual events scheduled for late August. from the consistory. Popes do not usually call for consistories in late summer, when Rome is still on vacation. The pope has scheduled a trip to the central Italian city of L’Aquila, where he will visit the basilica that hosts the tomb of Celestine V, one of the few popes to resign.
But for many in the Vatican, reading tea leaves goes too far: they see no sign that Francis is ready to retire.
“His [health] the situation is not brilliant, “said a senior Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. “But it’s not enough to resign.”
Unlike the time when John Paul II began using a wheelchair due to Parkinson’s disease, Francis still has his abilities. And Francis’ endurance remains significant. Knee pain has caused him to miss just a few events, and in July he will travel to Central Africa – the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan – and Canada. Francis is also planning a trip to Kazakhstan in September.
However, the biggest obstacle to the pope’s abdication has nothing to do with his schedule. The conventional thinking in the Vatican is that Francis would not want to retire while Pope Honorable Benedict XVI is still alive. Benedict, 95, has been a former pope for longer than he served as pope, and his presence – and occasionally interjections for church events – complicate the pontificate of Francis. Having two former popes at once would be even more complicated.
Pope Benedict, retired in solitude, emerges in opposition to Pope Francis
Prior to Benedict’s historic resignation in 2013, the resignation was not even possible for modern popes who served until their deaths. Francis made it clear that Benedict’s decision “should not be considered an exception.” But Benedict’s move, which came without warning, also created an environment in which future popes will face closer scrutiny of whether and how they leave office.
“I think this kind of chatter is inevitable,” said Austin Ivory, a biographer of Francis. “Benedict has opened the door for any future pope, judging whether it is right for him to retire when the time comes.
Ivory met with Francis recently and did not escape the feeling that resignation was imminent. Ivory said Francis had a difficult time with anesthesia associated with colon surgery, so he was adamant about avoiding knee surgery. He is receiving physiotherapy.
“He was in pain and tired,” Ivory told the pope during their meeting. “I just asked him how he was. He said things had actually improved. He uses a cane at least in some cases. “
Among the Catholic community, Francis’ reputation is shaped primarily by his reports on global issues such as migration and climate change, as well as on hot church topics such as sexuality. But within the Vatican bureaucracy, just as important is the way in which Francis changed the cardinals who would one day elect his deputy.
He bypassed bishops from archdioceses that usually have cardinals – Milan, for example – and reached less traditionally represented countries, such as East Timor, Guatemala, Mongolia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After the next consistory, the number of voting cardinals from Asia and Africa will almost double compared to the conclave elected by Francis.
This change only added to the unpredictability that will come at the next conclave. Even with nine years of Francis’ appointments, the cardinals elected by conservatives Benedict and John Paul II will still make up 37 percent of the group. Their votes will be crucial for any future pope to reach the two-thirds threshold. And compared to previous pontiffs, the so-called College of Cardinals met less frequently during Francis’ term, a trend that existed even before the pandemic.
They will soon have the opportunity to get to know each other.
Francis said that two days after the consistory – and one day after the trip to L’Aquila – the church’s cardinals would gather for two days to “reflect” on the new constitution, which changed the form of the Roman Curia, the Vatican’s bureaucracy.
For this gathering, Francis did not indicate that anything else would be on the agenda.
correction
An earlier version of this story mistakenly identified the oldest seated pope. It was Leo XIII. The article has been corrected.
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