According to two people familiar with the issue, Francis suffers from intense pain and expressed private fears not to get there this time. Sunday, the doctors of Gemelli afflicted the pope by preventing him from delivering his sermon of regular morning angelus, which he rarely missed, even when he is hospitalized, said one of the people and a third person . He now acts entirely on “doctors’ orders,” said one of them.
The pope initially resisted going to the hospital, but he was told in uncertain terms that he was likely to die if he remained in his room in the Vatican, added the second person.
While his health deteriorated in the last month, Francis also opted to finish key initiatives and name sympathetic personalities in key positions, following a papacy of progressive tinted marked by bitter ideological divisions.
Since it became Pope in 2013, Francis has aimed to make the church more inclusive, opening key roles to women and LGBT +people. Although this has caused a furious reaction to many conservatives, the liberals complain that the reforms have been insufficient. Meanwhile, the pope’s efforts to end children’s abuse by clerics have produced mixed results.
Papal succession will be political
On February 6, before being hospitalized, he extended the mandate of the Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re as dean of the Cardinal College, a role that will supervise certain preparations for a potential conclave, the secret collection which determines the selection of A new pope. This decision, which controversial a vote planned for the next dean by the best cardinals, was intended to guarantee that the process takes place according to Francis’ wishes, people said.
Re, a longtime Vatican operator is too old to participate in the conclave itself. Nevertheless, it will be a central figure in the back clip discussions which often take place before the conclave. The fact that Francis selected it as Dean instead of a young candidate suggests that he wanted to keep a friendly face in the role that would defend his inheritance, said one of the people.
Politices
