Will the Pope resign? Neither Francis nor the Church entertain the option, except in extreme circumstances
Questions and answers about the Pope’s situation remain one month into his hospital stay and given the precedent of Benedict XVI standing down
Pope Francis turned 88 last December. He has been in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for a month with bilateral pneumonia. Although his condition had previously been reported as critical, he appears to have overcome the worst and is on the road to recovery. However, many questions remain, given his age, his frailty, and, above all, the precedent of Benedict XVI’s resignation in 2013, when the former pontiff deemed himself unfit to continue. Neither the Pope nor the Church believes in that option, except in an extreme case. Francis is already the oldest Pope since Leo XIII, who died in 1903 at the age of 93. His hospitalization is the longest for a Pope after John Paul II’s 55 days in 1981.
