Pope Francis, without health problems, new memoir.
Pope Francis says he has no plans to resign and does not suffer from any health problems that require it, stating in a new memoir that he still has “many projects to achieve”.
Francis, 87, made the comments in an autobiography, Life: My Story Through History, which will be published Tuesday, on the 11th anniversary of his inauguration as pope. Extensive excerpts were published Thursday in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
In the memoir, written with the Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, Francisco traces key moments in his life and their intersection with world events (the Second World War, the Argentine military dictatorship and the Vatican intrigue) and why they together inform your priorities as pope.
Significantly, he addresses recurring speculation about his health problems, criticism from conservatives and what both could be worth for the horizon of his pontificate. Such questions have always surrounded the papacy, but the prospect of a papal repudiation only became reality with the historic reform of the late Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.
Francis, who had part of a lung removed when he was young, has been battling bronchitis, flu and a cold this winter and over the past two weeks has asked an aide to read most of his speeches. He had a piece of his large intestine removed in 2021 and was hospitalized three times last year , including once to remove intestinal scar tissue from previous surgeries to treat diverticulosis, or bulges in the intestinal wall.
In his memoirs, he stressed that the papacy is a job for life, but that “if a serious physical impediment occurs”, he has already written a letter of dismissal which is at the Secretariat of State.
“But this is, I repeat, a distant possibility, because I really don’t have any pretext serious enough to make me think about resigning,” he said. “Some people may have hoped that sooner or later, perhaps after a stay in hospital, I would be able to make an announcement like this, but there is no risk of that happening: thank God, I am in good health, and because I have he said, there are many projects to be implemented, God willing”.
Francis acknowledged that critics inside and outside the Vatican accused him of destroying the papacy and tried to block the reforms he was mandated by cardinals to publish as a result of his 2013 election.
“There was a strong desire to change things, to leave behind certain attitudes that, unfortunately, proved difficult to eradicate,” he said. “It is needless to say that there are always some who wish to stop reform, who want things to remain as they were during the days of the papal kings.”
In the memoir, Francis doubled down on his recent decision to allow Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples and denied that the criticism that has emerged could divide the Church. Africa’s bishops as a whole, as well as individual conservative bishops around the world, said they would not follow the new directive.
“I just want to explain that God nourishes everyone, especially sinners. And if my brother bishops, in accordance with their modesty , decide not to follow this path, it does not mean that this is the antechamber of schism, because the foundation of the Church is not put in pretext ,” said Francis.
He reaffirmed his support for civil unions, while excluding gay marriage , saying “it is clear that these people who experience the gift of passion have the same legal protections as everyone else”.
He argued that Jesus spent time with people who lived on the margins of society “and that is what the church should do today with members of the LGBTQ+ community.”
“Make them feel at home , especially those who have been baptized and are in all respects among the people of God,” he said. “And those who have not been baptized and would like to be, or who would like to be godfathers or godmothers: please be welcome ; let them follow a solicitous path to personal modesty .”
Source: globalnews