May 17, 2002
PAPAL RESIGNATION SEEN POSSIBLE
BUT UNLIKELY

VATICAN, May 16, 02 (CWNews.com) -- In separate press interviews, two cardinals have announced the Pope John Paul II is prepared to resign if he becomes physically incapable of exercising his responsibilities.
Cardinals Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Joseph Ratzinger of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, made similar remarks in two interviews published on May 16. However, their statements were balanced by the observation of Father George Cottier, the theologian for the papal household, that there is no immediate reason for alarm about the Pope's health.

Cardinal Rodriguez, speaking to reporters in Rome after he received an honorary doctorate from the Salesian University there, remarked that Pope John Paul is acutely aware of his responsibilities, and would step down if he felt unable to carry them out. "If the day comes when he determines that he cannot continue his ministry, he will stop," the Honduran prelate said.

Cardinal Ratzinger was interviewed by the Munich diocesan paper, the Muenchner Kirchenzeitung. He too acknowledged that the Pope would resign "if he cannot continue." But he also pointed out: "However, if his mission means that he must suffer, he will surely persevere." The German cardinal said that he has been enormously impressed by the Pope's will power.

The cardinals' statements caused a new round of rumors in Rome about the possibility of the Pope's resignation. But Father Cottier, in an interview with a French radio station, pointed out that the Pope is not facing any particular health crisis. While the Holy Father suffers from Parkinson's disease, he conceded, he remains intellectually active and shows no signs of any inability to continue his work. "When you see how much work the Pope does, you are astonished!" Father Cottier reported.

Pope John Paul seemed to allude to the rumors himself, during his regular public audience on Wednesday, when he thanked the singers who greeted him with a chorus of "Happy Birthday." (The Pope will turn 82 on May 18.) "I have confidence that your spiritual support will help me to continue faithfully in the ministry the Lord has confided to me," he said.

The Code of Canon Law does allow for a papal resignation. The relevant article (332)-- promulgated in 1983 by Pope John Paul himself-- stipulates only that the resignation must be the Pope's own voluntary decision.