The secretary-general and spokesman for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE, by its Spanish acronym), Bishop Francisco César García Magán, expressed his conviction that the conditions for the resignation of Pope Francis, who has been hospitalized for 14 days due to health problems, have not been met.

Asked at the end of the meeting of the conference’s standing committee, García explained that the resignation of the pontiff is provided for in Canon 332.2 of the Code of Canon Law, with the only requirement that “it be free and be formally expressed.”

García also pointed out that it is public knowledge that in 2013, the year he became pope, Francis gave the then-Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, “a signed letter with his formal resignation in case of impediment.”

“I signed it and told him: ‘In case of impediment due to medical reasons or whatever, here is my resignation. You already have it.’ I don't know who Cardinal Bertone gave it to, but I gave it to him when he was secretary of state,” the pontiff revealed to the Spanish newspaper ABC in 2022.

The CEE spokesman pointed out in this regard that “these conditions are not being met because the impediment to which the pope was referring was when it is linked to a mental limitation, a mental impediment. What the pope has now are illnesses typical of age.”

“As he has said on occasion, the Church is not governed with the knees but with the head, with the help of the Holy Spirit,” added the prelate, who, after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, considered that, if Pope Francis made the same decision, “it would not be new.”

The bishops’ spokesman also stressed that “we are not in a pre-conclave period; far from it” and made an appeal to the people of God to “intensify prayer for the healing of this pope” and to do so “with affection and communion.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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