The state of Pope Francis' health

Vatican: Concern about the head of the church - The state of Pope Francis' health

When Pope Francis took to the stage of the audience hall in Rome last Wednesday, visibly exhausted, bent and with small steps, he was greeted by minutes of standing applause and shouts of "Viva il Papa" from the hall. Despite his lung and respiratory illness, the 86-year-old pontiff appeared before the faithful at the general audience, which was moved from St. Peter's Square to the Aula Paolo VI to protect the patient from the cold air. "I'm still not feeling well with this flu," said Francis. "My voice isn't nice yet."

A sigh of relief goes through the ranks. The Pope looks pale, still dazed from the antibiotic infusions, and his speech is interrupted by frequent throat-clearing. But he is back. The Roman Curia had been torn between fear and hope for days after Francis was hospitalized on Saturday with suspected pneumonia. Francis will be 87 years old on December 17. How will the man survive his third stay in hospital this year? That was the question being asked both in the Vatican and on the streets of Rome.

An early resignation? Not an option for this pope

"We don't have all the information, but it looks like Francis is suffering from cyclical crises, from which he has always recovered, even if he is very fragile," says Vatican expert Marco Politi. Pneumonia had already forced the Pope into hospital at Easter. In June, he was hospitalized again for an operation on his intestines. Behind closed doors, some Vatican experts were already talking about the possibility of his resignation. "The Pope is taking a pragmatic view. He has said that he will continue as long as he is able to. And it looks like he will at the moment," says Politi.

However, he had to cancel his historic trip to the World Climate Summit in Dubai. Francis would have been the first pope to attend a United Nations climate conference. Curbing global warming is a central theme of his pontificate. At the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, at which the participating countries agreed to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees if possible, Francis sent out an appeal for a global rethink. The Vatican also joined the agreement.

Now the sovereign of the Vatican state wanted to take the floor himself: he had prepared a sharp speech, a warning wake-up call to humanity. No head of the Church before him has engaged in public, international debates like Pope Francis. His voice carries weight on the international stage.

His successor is already being discussed in church circles - behind closed doors

The situation at home is very different. Since the frequent illnesses, resistance to the innovator Francis has flared up again behind the walls of the Vatican. The intrigue surrounding the next papal election, the conclave, shows no sign of abating. "Conservatives and traditionalists have been trying for two years to prevent a second reformist pope from coming after Francis and are haggling with supporters for a moderate successor," says Politi. However, the majority ratios are very volatile: 30 percent ultra-conservatives, 30 percent reformers and 40 percent undecided. This group includes disoriented clergy, some of whom genuinely do not know where they stand and are afraid of change, of so-called "Protestantization", explains Politi.

After all, it is about fundamental issues of the church such as the relaxation of Catholic sexual morals, the voluntary nature of celibacy, the admission of women to the diaconate and the strengthening of the authority of bishops. According to Politi, it is no longer in the power of the Roman Curia to decide on these issues. The outcome of the conflict will depend on the bishops' conferences worldwide. "What counts is which direction they will take."

A civil war is raging within the Church

"A civil war is raging within the Church," says Politi. Modernizers against preservationists, centralists against the universal church. The battle is more or less public, says Politi. Francis ́ opponents attack him with harsh words and sometimes spread the word on social media. However, the Pope remains unwavering in his desire for reform. He does not have much time to set the course in his favor.

It was only in October that Francis convened the bishops for the World Synod in Rome. Politi calls it a "mini council", something like a small revolution. Women were also present, who had the right to vote for the first time in 1700 years of church history, Politi emphasizes. The second part of the synod is due to take place in October 2024. The direction of the Catholic Church will then be jointly defined in a final document: the relationship between the Church as a community and as a hierarchy; participation and involvement, i.e. the co-determination of the Catholic laity; the mission or how the Church positions itself in relation to the world.

Francis continues to intervene

"Today, the Pope can no longer decide everything alone, he needs the support and approval of the bishops' conferences," says Politi. But sometimes he breaks with this principle and breaks new ground on his own. When he wants to accept homosexual people into the church as God's children or admit divorced and remarried couples to mass. But he is speaking for himself personally, not on behalf of the Church.

Despite his fragile health and recurring illnesses, Francis has neither the courage nor the strength to stand out as a modernizer with direct statements in his speeches on the one hand, and on the other to emphatically strengthen the bishops' conferences worldwide so that they can act as a counterweight to Rome's Curia and say where the Church should go in the future.