'The Pope is recovering well; let’s not invent things,' said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, according to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. 'One shouldn’t speak of retirement; in a few days he will return to the Vatican.'
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The head of the College of Cardinals has stated that Pope Francis is on the mend and will be returning to the Vatican.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, whose tenure was recently extended by the Pontiff, has attempted to dispel rumors that Pope Francis wishes to retire. Another leading cardinal, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture, had earlier stated that the Pope might retire because of his “complex” health situation.
“The Pope is recovering well; let’s not invent things,” said Cardinal Re, according to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “One shouldn’t speak of retirement; in a few days he will return to the Vatican.”
La Repubblica also reported that Cardinal Re indicated that Pope Francis’ recovery would take at least another week.
Cardinal Ravasi gave his opinion about the possibility of the Pontiff’s retirement on the “Non Stop News” show on the Italian private radio station RTL 102.5 earlier this week.
“I think he could do it because he is a person who … is quite decisive in his choices,” Ravasi said.
“So far he has chosen to continue his activities, even when, for example, there was the knee problem, which changed his normal way of relating as a public figure with worldwide ecclesial community. On that occasion, he made that famous joke about governing with the brain and not with the knee. So, there has always been a tendency to fight and react.”
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Ravasi noted also that Francis had managed to cope with difficult trips abroad. However, he opined that the Pope would quit if he were no longer able to communicate as he has.
“There is no doubt that if he found himself in a situation where his ability to have direct contact, as he likes to do, to be able to communicate in an immediate, incisive and decisive way, was compromised, then I believe he might decide to resign.”
Ravasi confirmed that in 2013 Pope Francis put a signed resignation letter into the hands of the Vatican Secretary of State "in case of serious physical impediment."
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