On December 31, Pope Francis donated one of these crowd plagues to Rome. Solicited by many followers, he is caught by a woman and gets annoyed. The scene, filmed, is shared millions of times on social networks. And relaunches a rumor, which is currently running in the Vatican, that of the resignation of the sovereign pontiff.
Upon his appointment in 2013, Pope Francis had warned that he would follow in the footsteps of his predecessor if his health left him. "He never hid that he would give up if he was no longer able to govern the Church, you have to believe when he says that," says Vaticanist Bernard Lecomte. Before the bloodshed in Place Saint Pierre, other clues had put the chip in the ear of specialists. In particular the absence of trips to the Pope's agenda, or the departure, not replaced, of one of his two personal secretaries.
Benedict XVI manipulated?
"Even if there are some disturbing signs, we must take these rumors with a certain perspective, especially since rumor is an art very practiced in the Vatican!" What is certain is that Pope Francis seems to have entered a new moment in his pontificate. If he puts his affairs in order - notably by making strategic appointments - it is not necessarily because he intends to give up, but that he feels at a turning point. In a way, an “age of maturity”, analyzes Marie-Lucile Kubacki, Vaticanist for La Vie, in Rome.
Splashed by the scandals of pedophilia, François faces many critics. And knows it is expected on a number of very sensitive societal issues. He is preparing in particular to make his conclusions on the celibacy of priests. And an unexpected actor came to complicate the situation.
Benedict XVI, the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years, broke in mid-January the silence to which he had promised to abide to appear in the book of Cardinal Sarah, entitled "From the depths of our hearts". The work asks the whole Church not to be "impressed" by "bad pleas, theatrical productions, devilish lies, fashionable errors that want to devalue priestly celibacy".
"The more the opposition activates, the less likely it is to leave"
Faced with the controversy, Joseph Ratzinger finally asked that his signature be withdrawn. But this aborted participation stirred up all theories. Would the 92-year-old retired pope be manipulated by the ultra-conservative wing of the Church opposed to the Argentine pontiff? For several months, the word "schism" has not even been taboo. In the shadows, certain conservatives would organize the departure of François, for the benefit of a pope corresponding more to their values.
“Pope Francis declared in 2019 that he was not afraid of the schism. By declaring this, he sent the signal that he would not yield to any form of pressure and we can trust him on this point: he is a man of character, who had to face a dictatorship in his youth, and who n is not one to be pushed at the start. The more the opposition activates, the less likely it is to leave, if however envy brushed against it! », Assures Marie Kubacki.
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"There are nostalgic nuns of the pope emeritus, but they come mainly from a small fundamentalist branch, very noisy," abounds Bernard Lecomte. “What is certain is that the incident in Cardinal Sarah's book highlights the problem of authority posed by the status of Pope Emeritus. We let him keep his Pope name, his cassock, and we let him live inside the Vatican, says Bernard Lecomte. However, there cannot be two popes, ”he recalls. The situation brings back bad memories: in 1378, the Church had two popes, and even three in 1410.
