Pope Francis could resign if he came to have “serious difficulties carrying out his service”, a cardinal has suggested as the pontiff marks a week in hospital.
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, however, has added that the pope has a tendency “to fight” and would likely want to stay on for this year’s Jubilee.
The Pope, 88, was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on 14 February. He is being treated for double pneumonia.
In a brief update on his health on Friday, the Vatican said Francis had had a good night, had got up and eaten breakfast.
On Thursday, the Vatican said the Pope’s overall condition was “improving slightly” and his heart is working well.
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He was also reported to have worked from his hospital room with his aides after breakfast on Thursday.
Millions of people around the world have been concerned for the Pope’s increasingly frail health – and his condition has given rise to speculation over a possible resignation.
Asked if he thought the Pope could choose to resign, Cardinal Ravasi told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: “I believe so. If he should have some serious difficulties carrying out his service, he will make his choice.”
But the cardinal suggested the Pope may want to stay on for the Jubilee – a year-long occasion that takes place every quarter of a century and brings millions of Roman Catholic pilgrims to the Vatican – as he feels it’s his “great moment”.
In a separate interview with Italian radio network RTL on Thursday evening, the cardinal said the Pope’s attitude is “to fight, to react”.
But he added that “there is no question” he might decide to resign “if he found himself in a situation where he was compromised in his ability to have direct contact, as he loves doing, or to communicate in an immediate, direct, incisive and decisive way”.
Another high-ranking prelate, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, said “everything is possible” when asked about a possible retirement.
Can a pope resign?
Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, resigned in 2013 after concluding that he no longer had the physical strength to carry on the rigours of the globe-trotting papacy.
The move shocked the church: Benedict was the first pope in 600 years to retire.
Francis confirmed in 2022 that shortly after being elected pontiff in 2013 he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impeded him from carrying out his duties.
He has said he would consider it, after Benedict “opened the door” to popes retiring. But in 2024, he called a resignation only a “distant hypothesis”.
And there is no indication Francis is in any way incapacitated.
Church law requires that any papal resignation be “freely and properly manifested”, meaning a pope’s decision to step down cannot be influenced in any way by outside pressure.
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Pope’s health
Last Friday, the pontiff was admitted to hospital after struggling with breathing difficulties as a bout of bronchitis had worsened.
The Pope has been diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs, on top of a polymicrobial infection in his respiratory tract, meaning a combination of bacteria, viral and other organisms.
He is taking a combination of antibiotics and cortisone for what doctors also diagnosed as asthmatic bronchitis.
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Pope Francis has a history of respiratory illness, having lost part of one of his lungs to pleurisy as a young man.
He had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023 and is prone to respiratory infections in winter.
