Some of Pope Francis’ cardinals have responded to the obvious question — will he resign? — as he continues fighting pneumonia and a complex respiratory infection in hospital.
The 88-year-old pontiff marked the one-week point in his hospital stay on Friday by getting up to eat breakfast, the Vatican said.
According to the one-line morning bulletin, “The night went well, this morning Pope Francis got up and had breakfast.”
The Vatican had said late on Thursday reported a “slight improvement” in his overall clinical condition, with his heart working well. But it will still take some time to understand if the various drug therapies are working, and outside doctors have said that regardless, recovery from pneumonia in such a fragile patient could take up to two weeks.
Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 after a case of bronchitis worsened; doctors later diagnosed a complex respiratory infection, involving bacteria, virus and other organisms and the onset of pneumonia in both lungs on top of asthmatic bronchitis. They prescribed “absolute rest.”
On Thursday, some of Francis' cardinals began responding to the obvious question circulating: whether Francis might resign if he becomes irreversibly sick and unable to carry on. Francis has said he would consider it, after Pope Benedict XVI “opened the door” to popes retiring.
“Everything is possible,” said Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, the archbishop of Marseille, France.
Another cardinal, Gianfranco Ravasi, was asked if Francis might decide to follow in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI and step down if he becomes too ill.
Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to retire when he concluded in 2013 that he didn’t have the physical strength to carry on the rigors of the globe-trotting papacy.
“There is no question that if he (Francis) was in a situation where his ability to have direct contact (with people) as he likes to do ... was compromised, then I think he might decide to resign,” Ravasi was quoted as telling RTL 102.5 radio.
Francis confirmed in 2022 that shortly after being elected pontiff he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impeded him from carrying out his duties. There is no provision in canon law for what to do if a pope becomes incapacitated.
But there is no indication Francis is in anyway incapacitated or is even considering stepping aside. During his hospital stay, he has continued to work, including making bishop appointments. And besides, after Benedict died, Francis made clear that he believed the job of pope is for life.
Francis had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023 and is prone to respiratory infections in winter.
Doctors say pneumonia in such a fragile, elderly patient makes him particularly prone to complications given the difficulty in being able to effectively expel fluid from his lungs. While his heart is strong, Francis isn’t a particularly healthy 88-year-old. He is overweight, isn’t physically active, uses a wheelchair because of bad knees, had part of one lung removed as a young man, and has admitted to being a not-terribly-cooperative patient in the past.
Francis has had two longer hospital stays during his nearly 12-year pontificate. He spent 10 days at Gemelli in 2021 when he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed. In 2023, he was admitted for nine days for surgery to remove intestinal scar tissue and repair an abdominal hernia.
