When the Spanish newspaper ABC published a lengthy interview with Pope Francis on December 18 last year, the article’s seemingly grandiose title caught few in church circles by surprise. “I have already signed my resignation in case of medical impediment”, read the Pope’s quote placed in the great headline of the Spanish newspaper of that day.
More specifically, faced with a “delicate question” from the journalist about whether it would not be “advisable” to create their own regulations for cases in which a Pope is prevented from exercising his functions due to health problems or accidents, Pope Francis expressed his peremptorily: “I have already signed my resignation. Was [o cardeal] Tarcisio Bertone the Secretary of State. I signed it and said, ‘In the event that I am unable to make it, medically or otherwise, here is my resignation. They already have it. I don’t know who Cardinal Bertone gave it to, but I gave it to him when he was Secretary of State.
Despite the many signs that Francis has been leaving in recent years, pointing to a strong possibility that his pontificate ends with his resignation and not with his death, this was the first time that the Argentine Pope assumed head-on that he had this prepared letter. “This is the first time I’ve said it,” Pope Francis told Spanish journalists, who even had to ask him: “Do you want it to be known?”
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Source: Observadora
