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Vatican City, February 16, 2010 (FBC) Pope Francis has said that it should not be “fashionable” for the Roman Catholic Church to resign rather than rule during his lifetime and should not happen only in exceptional circumstances.
The comments, made during a private meeting with fellow Jesuits during a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, are a departure from Francis’ earlier claims that longer lifespans and medical reform could make retired popes an institution in the Church.
La Stampa newspaper published the comments on Thursday in an article about Jesuit priest Father Antonio Spadaro, who lives in Rome, attended the meetings and wrote about them with the Pope’s permission.
In the year On February 2nd in Kinshasa, media reports were asked that Francis might resign.
In the year He repeated comments he made to a Spanish newspaper in early December that he had given a Vatican official a letter of resignation to use in the event of a serious illness, several months after his election in 2013. Making decisions.
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“This in no way means that the retirement of popes should become fashionable and normal,” he said.
“I believe that the service of the Pope should be for life. I see no reason why this should not be the case… Historical tradition is important. Instead, if we listen to gossip, we should change the bishops every six months,” he said.
In the year In 2013, Pope Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to resign, citing poor physical and mental health.
He lived another 10 years, and, according to top aides, remained bright until Dec. 31, just days before his death.
Benedict continued to write and receive visitors, who sometimes revealed what he said, feeding a conservative, nostalgic Catholic faction unhappy with Francis’ papacy.
His nearly 10 years as pope were one of the most divisive periods in modern church history. Although Francis compared living in the Vatican to having a grandmother in his house, a book written by a close aide of Benedict exposed the tensions between two men in white living in the small city-state.
Francis’ comments to the African Jesuits differed from those used by Francis in the past when discussing the possible rise of popes, including himself.
When he returned from Canada last July, Francis’ age and increasing ailments, including knee problems that required him to use a cane and a wheelchair, made him realize he had to slow down “or decide to step aside.” He said the pope, who will step down in August, is humble.
In the year In 2014, Francis said that Benedict’s resignation a year earlier should not be seen as a “special case” and that Benedict’s resignation has become “an institution that has opened the door, the door of the leadership of the Pope.”
In a speech to the African Jesuits this month, Francis said that resigning for health reasons was “not on my agenda for now.”
Additional reporting by Francesca Psionieri; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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