Rome – Pope Francis has been in the hospital for his longest stay, more than two weeks now. And while the latest Vatican updates report a slow and sustained improvement from its severe bronchitis and double pneumonia, it has not stopped the Vaticanist rumor mill from speculating for its possible resignation.
But the historian, author and biographer Papal Austen Ivereigh are distributing those rumors, saying that despite the secret letter he wrote at the beginning of his elections as Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis believes that the Papacy is for life.
“He has spoken of different times about it,” Ivereigh Fox News told an interview. “He is saying that for him, the papacy is for life.”
The Pope points out the ‘blessing’ that comes with weakness; Says that ‘war appears even more absurd’ in its current state
“Really really important in a world where there is a kind of cult of health and youth,” Ivereigh added, “that we say,” No, there is a mission that God gives you, that is for life. “”
Millions of loyalists worldwide have prayed for the healing and healing of the 88-year-old Pontif.
Pope Francis (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty)
Here in St. Peter’s Square, a nightmare of the night rosary, led by one of the Curie cardinals, is holding the fires of the glowing faith that Francis will heal.
Ivereigh is the author of “The Great Reformer: Francis and making a radical pope” and other books. He believes that Pope Francis will recover, perhaps weaker, but still a living spiritual leader.
“There is an anxiety. There is a sense of uncertainty.”
However Ivereigh admitted, “There is anxiety. There is a sense of uncertainty.”
History has helped provide that anxiety and uncertainty. Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, resigned in 2013, the first Pontif to do so in more than 500 years.
Pope Francis’s medical condition: What to know about bilateral pneumonia
But then there are those who may want him to resign.
Still, there are those who are circulating wagons who know it is only a matter of time until the cardinals gather in Rome to choose a descendant of St. Peter.
Bishop Joseph Strickland, a vocal critic of Pope Francis, wrote an open letter to the Cardinal College by encouraging them to choose wisely in the other conclusion.
Pope Francis (Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP/Getty)
In 2018, Pope Francis removed Strickland from his post as Bishop of Tyler’s Diocese, Texas, following Strickland’s public criticism of the Pope.
In his letter to the Cardinals, Strickland wrote, “As the conclusions approach, I feel forced to share my deep concern – I know it is separated from many bishops, clergy and members of secular believers – that this conclusions will try to choose a man to keep Pope’s office.”
JD Vance shares a special message to Pope of Pope Francis between the respiratory crisis
He went on, “Your emissions, I would also remember in your mind that you have a severe obligation before God refuses to give the consent of any candidate who does not meet the conditions set forth in divine law.”
Pope Francis has not stopped working, though his poor condition requires him to move a little slower.
Strickland ended with subtle charges against Francis, whom his critics claim to not always keep the theological truths of faith.
Wrote Strickland, “If one heretic public, or a man who is reasonably suspected to be a public heretic, receives enough votes, loyal cardinals have an obligation to refuse to accept the validity of his choices.”
But Ivereigh says that Francis is a man who is more like Jesus, that he has a ability to keep in tension the truths of faith along with the unconditional love required by all those who are made in the image of God.
Said Ivereigh, “He proclaims the truth, and at the same time he heals and loves. And in fact, the truth he proclaims is a healing truth and the healing he does – he communicates the truth about who God is.”
Click here to sign up in our Living Newspaper
In his 12 years as Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis has continued to form the Catholic Church in ways that are very different from those of its ancestors.
First, he worked to clear the mess at the Vatican Bank, and he expanded the Cardinal College, creating cardinals in distant places that had never had the high position before, as it is in San Diego.
Pope Francis (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
He also set up a woman in one of the highest rank positions in the Vatican: Sister Raffaella Petrini, the new president of the Papal Commission for the Vatican City and President of the Governor of the Vatican City.
For more living items, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.
From his 10th suite at Gemelli Hospital, Francis continues to run the Vatican business. He has not stopped working, though his poor condition requires him to move a little slower.
From work with the pope in projects, Ivereigh knows that the Holy Father is a workaholic. And he believes that this current health crisis will be resolved in a positive way.
Click here to get the FOX News app
“I think the near future is about leaving the hospital, returning to his residence in Santa Marta for what everyone expects will be a long convulsion,” Ivereigh said. “Doctors. I think, are quite clear about it.”
