Both Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández have thrown cold water on the rumors that Pope Francis will resign amid ongoing health issues.
(LifeSiteNews) — Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin is the latest high-ranking official to push back against rumors that Pope Francis will resign amid his extended stay in Gemelli Hospital in Rome.
Speaking with Corriere della Sera this week, Parolin said that such claims amount to “useless speculation.”
Parolin, 70, is viewed as a leading contender at the next conclave. He has been Secretary of State since October 2013.
Cardinal Víctor Manuel "Tucho" Fernández has also thrown cold water on the possibility of Francis stepping down.
In remarks made to Argentinian newspaper La Nación, Fernández said that certain groups of clerics want to “push” Francis into resignation but that any such decision must be made “completely free” otherwise it is invalid.
Fernández is the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. He infamously wrote a blasphemous book in 1995 entitled, “Healing with your mouth: The art of kissing.”
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the head of the College of Cardinals, has also sought to dispel rumors of a resignation.
“The Pope is recovering well; let’s not invent things," he said, Italian newspaper La Repubblica has reported. “One shouldn’t speak of retirement; in a few days he will return to the Vatican.”
Collectively, Parolin, Fernandez, and Re’s remarks appear to be an un-official Vatican response to comments made by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi to Italian radio this week.
“I think he could [resign] because he is a person who … is quite decisive in his choices,” Ravasi said.
Ravasi, 82, is the former head of the Vatican’s department of cultural affairs.
Ravasi’s remarks were not without foundation. Francis himself in 2022 said he gave a pre-written resignation letter to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who was then serving as the Secretary of State, in 2013 in the event of an “impediment due to health reasons."
On Saturday, February 22, LifeSite’s Vatican reporter Michael Haynes noted that the latest update on Francis’ health seems much less optimistic than in recent days, with Francis having been administered "high flows of oxygen" and blood transfusions, and the Vatican opting to keep the prognosis confidential.
Italian state-owned public broadcaster RAI Vaticano was reportedly put on alert earlier this week for an “extraordinary” event, which many had seen as a sign that Francis’ health was deteriorating faster than what the Vatican was letting on.
This story is developing…
