One day after invoking a phrase from the Bible during the Angelus that can be read as an allusion to
a possible retirement,
Pope Francis emphasized this Monday that
"health is not a luxury"
, a theme that is at the center of the concerns about the pontiff and feeds the constant rumors about future decisions.
In a meeting with doctors and members of the Italian Federation of Radiologists, Pope Francis said Monday that "a world that discards the sick, that does not help those who cannot afford treatment,
is cynical and has no future
."
During the meeting, the pontiff called for all States to deploy all their "resources and strategies" in order to ensure that everyone can access the right to have decent health coverage, and asked professionals to always "
be support their ethical values
as an indispensable reference" when carrying out their work.
Pope Francis, during the Angelus last Sunday.
Photo: AFP
The references to health issued by the Pope are always analyzed from the perspective of what they could mean for his future at the head of the Catholic Church, an issue that is more in the spotlight than ever after the death of Benedict XVI.
Other references
The Pope has spoken about his own health and its relationship with his ability to carry out his work.
He has only brought up the subject
of an eventual resignation.
In June 2022, Pope Francis stated that he would rather resign than have surgery.
"Before surgery, I quit!" He
said in the middle of last year.
According to Vatican sources,
the phrase was said in a joking tone
, in line with the pontiff's reluctance to want to undergo surgery after what he says were problems with anesthesia during the operation that removed 30 centimeters of his large intestine due to infectious diverticulitis.
The most recent reference to his possible resignation occurred this Sunday, when Pope Francis used the Gospel of the day -which evokes the passage in which the apostle John steps aside and gives way to Jesus-, to talk about the importance of “freedom from attachments” and the importance of “
stepping aside at the right time
”.
Many interpreted the phrase as a message above all
to Benedict XVI's secretary, Georg Gänswein
, who harshly criticized Bergoglio after Ratzinger's death and later in the publication of a book called "Nothing but the truth."
Others interpreted it as speaking of himself.
The versions about a possible resignation of Pope Francis are not new.
In fact,
they go back to the very beginning of his papacy
From him.
The resignation is already written
It was at the end of 2022 that Pope Francis confirmed that he has signed a resignation "in case of medical impediment", which he drafted in 2013 and delivered to a trusted collaborator.
"
I have already signed my resignation
", affirmed the pontiff in an interview published by the Spanish newspaper ABC.
His words came in response to a query about a possible force majeure reason for leaving the position for which he was elected on March 13, 2013.
"It was Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State. I signed it and told him: 'In case of impediment due to medical reasons or what do I know,
here is my resignation. They already have
it ,' "added the Pope, referring to the Italian cardinal who he held the Vatican's "number two" position until October 2013.
The pontiff has even said
what his plans are
in case that possibility came to fruition.
In an interview he gave to Televisa Univision last July, the pontiff assured that if he were to resign, he would not choose to live in the Vatican or return to Argentina, but would prefer to find a church in Rome where he would continue hearing confessions.
And he further clarified that he will not be Pope Emeritus, a position that Benedict XVI created for himself the day he resigned.
Clarín Editorial
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