Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, a former Vatican culture minister, has said that Pope Francis may abdicate for health reasons, Italian media reported on Friday.
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi said in an interview with the media:
“If he has serious difficulties in the exercise of his office, he will make his choice. Of course it will be up to him to decide, perhaps he will ask for advice, but he will make the final judgement himself, according to his conscience.”
Pope Francis intends to stay in office until the end of this year and the conclusion of the Jubilee Year of Christianity, and afterwards he will resign, as his predecessor Benedict XVI did.
On February 14, the press service of the Holy See reported the hospitalisation of the Pope. On February 17, the pontiff was left in hospital due to a respiratory tract infection. The next day the Pope was reported to have been diagnosed with the onset of bilateral pneumonia as a result of an examination.
The Vatican noted that the 88-year-old pope’s clinical condition “continues to present a complex picture” and that his treatment would be altered.
