VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world when he introduced his resignation in 2013, the primary in 600 years. That led some to marvel if, as he grew more and more frail and sick, Pope Francis would observe that precedent.
Whereas Francis saved open the chance, and even had a resignation letter ready, he stated extra just lately that he believed that the papacy was for all times. And he finally lived out that perception, serving in his ministry till his loss of life on Monday, on the age of 88.
Benedict, even earlier than his resignation, he had argued {that a} pontiff ought to step apart if he acquired too previous or infirm to do the position. It was nonetheless a shock when he introduced in Latin that his “strength of mind and body” had diminished and that he couldn’t keep on.
His dramatic exit paved the best way for Francis’ election and created the unprecedented association of two popes residing side-by-side, with Benedict in a transformed monastery within the Vatican gardens till his loss of life on Dec. 31, 2022.
However he stated he realized that Benedict would have meditated and prayed for a very long time earlier than coming to that “brave and historic decision.”
Through the decade they lived collectively within the Vatican as a reigning and “emeritus pope,” Francis repeatedly praised Benedict’s braveness and humility for resigning and stated that he had “opened the door” to future popes additionally stepping down.
However after Benedict died, Francis’ modified course. Whereas confirming he had a resignation letter ready in case he turned medically incapacitated, he pointed to the dangers that papal resignations would possibly turn into a “fashion” or the norm.
“Benedict had the courage to do it because he didn’t feel like going on because of his health. I, for the moment, do not have that on my agenda,” he stated, in keeping with closed-door feedback with the Jesuit neighborhood within the Democratic Republic of the Congo in February 2023, which had been reported by the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica.
“I believe that the pope’s ministry is ad vitam (for life). I see no reason why it shouldn’t be so. The ministry of the great patriarchs is always for life. And historical tradition is important.”
