86-year old Pope Francis has revealed he has signed a letter of resignation in case severe and permanent health problems makes him incapacitated to carry on his official duties.
The Pope who made this known in an interview with Spanish newspaper, ABCpublished today, December 18, 2022 said he gave the resignation later to the then Vatican Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone.
He said he would resign if his health fails him as such sd he could not continue running the 1.3 billion-member Roman Catholic Church.
"I have already signed my resignation. Tarcisio Bertone was Secretary of State. I signed it and I told him: 'In case of impediment for medical reasons or whatever, here is my resignation'," Francis was quoted as saying.
"You have it. I don't know to whom Cardinal Bertone may have given it, but I gave it to him when he was Secretary of State," Francis said, adding he was revealing it for the first time in public.
Francis had in an interview with Reuters in July, denied reports his resignation was imminent but repeated his often stated position that he might resign someday if failing health made it impossible for him to run the Church -- something that had been almost unthinkable before Benedict XVI, now 95, resigned in 2013. It was the first papal resignation in six centuries.
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