Pope Francis has said the time may come when he must consider the possibility of stepping down as head of the Catholic Church and that he would do so if his health prevents him from fulfilling the position he needs . But he’s not thinking about that at the moment, he said.
“The door (to resign) is open it’s a normal option. But to this day I haven’t knocked on that door. I didn’t feel the need to think about that possibility. respect,” he said.
The comments came at the end of a trip to Canada during which he apologized to indigenous people for the church’s role in former schools, whose function was to assimilate indigenous people and destroy their native cultures and languages.
It has been an extensive and arduous programming journey.
Francis, 85, reiterated that he intends to continue with his duties and said he will be led of God in relation to stepping down should that happen.
“It’s not a disaster to change the pope, it’s not taboo,” he told reporters while in a wheelchair on the papal plane returning to Rome from Canada.
In recent months, Francisco has been suffering from knee problems that have affected his mobility. He spent much of the Canadian tour in a wheelchair.
But he had reiterated that while acknowledging the limitations of age, he had no more serious health problems.
“This trip was intense,” he told reporters. “I don’t think at my age I can continue to travel at the same pace as I used to with the limitations of this knee. Either I save up a bit to continue serving the Church, or I have to start considering the possibility of leaving.”
The Pope whose predecessor Benedict XVI. resigned in 2013 also said he intends to visit Ukraine but would seek advice from his doctors first.
His visit to Canada focused on apologizing to the indigenous people.
The pope was most engaged when interacting with the local population — particularly survivors of abuse at Catholic schools.
But there were times when he made his tiredness more apparent during the more formal moments of the trip, such as at political meetings.
In conversations with journalists on the return trip, he was encouraged by the criticism of the socalled “traditionalists” within the Catholic Church who, by the way, would celebrate the most a change of pope.
“A church that does not develop is a church that goes backwards,” said Francis. “A lot of people think of themselves as traditionalists, but no, they just go backwards. That’s a sin.”
“Tradition is the living faith of the dead, but your attitude is the dead faith of the living. It’s important to understand the role of tradition one musician said tradition is the guarantee of the future, it’s not a museum piece.”
Additional reporting by Sara Monetta
This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional62361447
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