As of: March 14, 2024, 1:22 p.m
By: Simon Schröder
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Pope Francis is in poor health.
The question of succession also appears to be an issue in the Vatican.
But the pontiff wants to remain in office.
Rome - In view of his poor health, Pope Francis said that a new conclave - i.e. the election of a successor - was already being considered in the Vatican.
During his hospital stays last year, there were one or two people who “preferred to campaign and were already thinking about a new conclave,” the 87-year-old pontiff wrote in his autobiography entitled “Life.
My story within history,” which will be published on March 19th.
The Pope's health problems – resignation is still out of the question for the Pontiff
The head of the Catholic Church had to be hospitalized twice in a clinic in Rome last year.
Initially because of pneumonia, before he later underwent open abdominal surgery.
“But calm down, it’s human nature, there’s no reason to get upset!
"When the Pope is in the hospital, of course you worry, and there is always someone who speculates in the media for self-interest or for money," the Pope said in the book, published by the Harper Collins publishing group.
Pope Francis © Gregorio Borgia/dpa
Francis never thought about resigning, he emphasizes.
He didn't give it a thought, because for him the papal office was for life.
This would only change if a health impairment occurred.
Internal opponents would have been waiting for such an announcement.
For him, however, the issue was not up for debate: “But that, I repeat, is purely hypothetical, because there is really no reason serious enough to consider resigning.”
The Pope's autobiographical work covers all the turning points of his life
The Pontiff continues: “Over the years, some may have hoped that sooner or later, perhaps after hospitalization, I would make such an announcement, but there is no such risk: thanks to the Lord, I enjoy good health,” as stated in the Italian newspaper
La Repubblica
.
In the autobiographical work, the Pope discusses some important stages in his life.
From his grandparents' emigration from Italy to Argentina to the women in his life.
No turning point is missed.
Last but not least, he also criticized the way Pope Benedict XVI was treated.
within the Roman Catholic Church after his retirement.
He would have been exploited and “instrumentalized by unscrupulous people for ideological and political purposes.”
Pope Francis is far from thinking about retiring and remains confident that he will be able to realize many more projects.
(dpa/SiSchr)