Pope on health, critics and the future papacy

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VATICAN CITY (AP) Pope Francis says he hasn’t even considered issuing standards to regulate future papal resignations and plans to continue as long as he can as bishop of Rome, despite a wave of attacks from some high-ranking cardinals and bishops.

In his first interview since the December 31 death of retired Pope Benedict XVI, Francis addressed his health, his criticisms and the next phase of his pontificate, which marks its 10th anniversary in March without a shadow of Benedict in the background. plan.

I am healthy. For my age, I am normal, the 86-year-old pontiff said on Tuesday, although he revealed that the diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall, had returned. Francis had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his large intestine removed in 2021 due to what the Vatican said was inflammation that caused his colon to narrow.

He added that a minor bone fracture in his knee from a fall healed without surgery after laser and magnet therapy.

I could die tomorrow, but it’s under control. I’m healthy, he told The Associated Press with his typical wry sense of humor.

Speculation about Francis’ health and the future of his pontificate only increased after the death of Benedict, whose resignation in 2013 marked a turning point for the Catholic Church as the first pontiff in six centuries to take over. his retirement.

Some commentators think Francis might be freer to maneuver now that Benedict, who lived out his 10-year retirement at the Vatican, is gone. Others suggest that any sort of ecclesial peace that had reigned was over and that Francis is now more exposed to criticism, deprived of the moderating influence that Benedict played to keep the conservative Catholic fringe at bay.

Francis acknowledged that the knives were out, but seemed almost optimistic about it.

I wouldn’t relate it to Benedict, but because of the attrition of a 10-year-old government, Francis said of his papacy. At first his election was greeted with a sense of surprise about a South American pope, then came unease when they began to see my flaws and didn’t like them, he said.

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The only thing I ask is that they do it in my face, because that’s how we all grow up, isn’t it? he added.

François praised Benoît as a gentleman and said of his death: I lost a father.”

For me, he was a security. When in doubt, I would ask for the car and go to the monastery and ask, he said of his visits to Benedict’s nursing home for advice. I have lost a good companion.

Some cardinals and canon lawyers have said the Vatican should issue norms to regulate future papal retreats to avoid the few setbacks that occurred during Benedict’s unexpectedly long retirement, during which he remained a point of reference for some. conservatives and traditionalists who refused to recognize the legitimacy of Francis.

From the name Benedict chose (pope emeritus) to the (white) cassock he wore to his occasional public remarks (on priestly celibacy and sexual abuse), these commentators said the standards must make clear that he does not there is only one reigning pope for the sake of church unity.

Francis said that issuing such standards had not even occurred to him.

I tell you the truth,” he said, adding that the Vatican needed more experience with papal retreats before it moved to regularizing or regulating them.

François said Benoît had opened the door to future resignations and that he too would consider resigning. He repeated Tuesday that if he resigns, he will be called bishop emeritus of Rome and will live in the residence of the retired priests of the diocese of Rome.

Francis said Benedict’s decision to live in a converted monastery in the Vatican gardens was a good interim solution, but future retired popes might want to do things differently.

He was still a slave as pope, right? said Francois. From the vision of a pope, of a system. Slave in the good sense of the term: In this he was not completely free, because he would have liked to return to his Germany and continue his theological studies.

By one calculation, Benedict’s death removes the main obstacle to Francis’s resignation, since the prospect of two retired popes was never an option. But Francis said Benedict’s death didn’t change his calculations. It didn’t even occur to me to write a will, he said.

As for his own short-term future, Francis emphasized his role as bishop of Rome as opposed to pontiff and said of his plans: To continue to be bishop, bishop of Rome in communion with all the bishops of the world.” He said he wanted to end the concept of the papacy as a power player or papal court.

Francis also addressed criticism from cardinals and bishops who erupted in public in the weeks following Benedict XVI’s death, saying it’s unpleasant like a rash that bothers you a bit but is better than blood. keep secret.

You prefer that they don’t criticize, for the sake of peace, said François. But I prefer that they do it because it means there is freedom to speak.

If it wasn’t like that, there would be a remote dictatorship, as I call it, where the emperor is there and nobody can tell him anything. No, let them do the talking because…criticism helps you grow and make things better.

The first salvo in the wave of attacks came from Benedict’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, who revealed the bad blood that had accumulated over the past 10 years in a revealing memoir published in the days that followed Benoît’s funeral.

In one of the most explosive sections, Gaenswein revealed that Benedict XVI had learned from reading the Vatican daily LOsservatore Romano that Francis had reversed one of the former pope’s most important liturgical decisions and reimposed restrictions on the celebration of the mass in old latin.

Days later, the Vatican was again rocked by the death of another staunch conservative, Cardinal George Pell, and revelations that Pell was the author of a devastating memorandum that circulated last year and which described the pontificate of Francis as a disaster and a catastrophe.

The memo, originally published under the pseudonym Demos, listed all of the Vatican’s problems under Francis, from its precarious finances to the pontiffs’ preaching style, and issued bullet points on what a future pope should do to address them.

Francis acknowledged Pells’ criticisms but still sang his praises for being his right-hand man on reforming Vatican finances as prime minister of the economy.

Even if they say he criticized me, fine, he has the right. Criticism is a human right, Francis said. But he added: He was a great guy. Awesome.

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