“Before being operated on, I resign!”: Pope Francis stirs up ghosts of resignation

A new version of what the Pope said to the Italian bishops gathered on May 23 to elect a new president of their Episcopal Assembly. made it resonate in the press again the most common topic of the resignation of the Pope. One or more of those who do not want Francis in the courageous minority of “Bishops” Italians, spread the news.

“Before surgery, I quit!”, said Francesco. The known version was different. “I don’t want to be operated on because the anesthesia impressed me a lot that they gave me in the operation “. He was referring to the three-hour surgery in which the surgeons of the Gemelli in Rome removed 30 centimeters of his large intestine due to infectious diverticulitis.

According to Vatican sources, the sentence that triggered the new wave of journalistic versions was said jokingly.

But no one denied that the phrase existed.

Less than a year has passed since the colon operation. And since the first version revealed that the Pope himself said he did not want to operate for fear of the effects he suffered from the anesthesia, the speculations did not stop.

Furthermore, at the international level, the Pope and his ills have been treated by the major world press organs. From the “Washington Post” which headlined a long article: “Is the Pope close to the end of his pontificate?”to “Le Figaro” and other French newspapers, along with a couple of British newspapers.

The Pope is likely to feel that a short time has passed since the colon operation and that he is still suffering from the effects of anesthesia, so he doesn’t want to know about left knee surgery with osteoarthritis, which forced him to use a wheelchair and give up some of his public commitments.

But only Jorge Bergoglio spoke of the hassles of anesthesia, which are always a cure in a person who turns 86 on 17 December.

No medical party or official Vatican information has mentioned the matter, then speculations fly. Some recall that when the Pope was discharged last year, the Gemini surgeons did not sign the Medical Bulletin. he never provided informationthe Vatican press office did so directly.

These loose threads they favor hypotheses of all kinds.

The doctors who treat you they recommended that the Pope undergo surgery of the knee On February 23, the Pope told the Italian bishops that he did not want the operation, which lasts less than an hour, for the issue of anesthesia and rehabilitation.

The alternative has been placed in the hands of the orthopedists who treat him and perform the infiltrations. In addition, they subject two hours a day of rehabilitation exercises. The treatment gave good results.

The Pope has not, as far as is known, no other health problems. Up close, he seems alert, focused, with a good memory and rested.

On 27 August he will preside over a Consistory a create 21 new cardinals, of which 16 will enter the future Conclave to choose his successor. It is estimated that 60% of the voters under the age of 80 have been nominated by him and so on follow the line of his pontificate.

The trip to L’Aquila, a clue?

The following day, August 28, the Pope will not stop in Rome despite the presence of the cardinals of the world, all summoned to the Consistory. Francis he decided to go to L’Aquilaone hundred kilometers from Rome, to pay homage to Celestino V. the pope who has resigned in 1294 after only six months of pontificate.

In 2009 also Benedict XVI, the current pope emeritus Joseph Ratzinger, visited L’Aquila and he made a gesture that few noticed as premonition. He placed his canopy in the tomb of Celestine V.

When in February 2013 Ratzinger resigned everyone understood that this gesture already denounced a proposed resignation if his health continued to deteriorate.

Ratzinger is still alive at 95, frail but handsome for his age. He lives in a convent in the Vatican gardens and Francesco visits him from time to time.

When he resigned more than nine years ago, Ratzinger “invented” the status of pope emeritus, with the wearing of the pontiff’s white robe. His decision to resign opened a historic door for him, yielding him a new modern dimension to the pontificate. In the future, the resignation of a sick or elderly Pope, it will be normal.

But as long as the German Pope is still alive, not to mention the resignation of Jorge Bergoglio at your expense. Imagine a photo of three popes togetherhow much damage it would do to the prestige of the Church.

The Italian journalist Gianni Valente recalled that in France an international network of the “best Vaticanists in the world” created a magazine distributed exclusively to the members of the Sacred College of Cardinals, sending it to their personal addresses.

The goal of “Cardinalis”, as the magazine is called, is that who will elect the future Pope to be informed to “make the right decisions in important moments in the life of the Church”.

“Cardinalis” was printed in four languages as an interpretative guide and conceived as a memorandum for a future Conclave.

The editorial line states follow the pontificates of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI”, The two previous popes and more conservative with respect to the proclaimed reformism of Francis.

It should be remembered that the Conservative Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dole, has begun to send cardinals from all over the world books on the state of the Church and the Conclave that is coming to increase the pressure of Bergoglio’s opponents and favor the election of a new pontiff alternative to the current pope’s line.

The Pope in a wheelchair will face a test with his two scheduled trips to Africa in early July (Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan) and to Canada later this month.

Jorge Bergoglio will return on the day of his trip to L’Aquila. The cardinals called to the Consistory, who on August 29 and 30 will examine with the Pope the reorganization of the Roman Curia, the central government of the Church, which was explicitly mandated by the cardinals who elected Pope Francis in the Conclave of March 13, 2013.

The reorganization is crystallized in the new Apostolic Constitution “Preach the Gospel”.

Vatican correspondent

ap