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Agence France-Presse

Pope Francis’ unexpected hospitalisation this week raised fresh questions over his future, providing fuel for critics hungry for a new head of the Catholic Church, experts say.
Traditionalists have openly challenged the Argentine pontiff, who is considered by some Catholics to be undermining key doctrinal teachings with his liberal leanings and push for a more compassionate church.
Francis has reached out to gay believers, famously saying “Who am I to judge?” and has allowed divorced and remarried believers to receive communion in some cases.
His illness has “given more oxygen” to those seeking to portray him as weak or those who hope he will follow his predecessor Benedict XVI and resign, Robert Mickens, editor of the French Catholic newspaper La Croix International, told AFP.

The 86-year-old pontiff, who has a series of health issues, has previously said he would quit if he no longer felt able to do his job – although he insisted in February it was not on his agenda.
The three nights he spent in Rome’s Gemelli hospital for bronchitis, however, have sparked “feverish agitation” among both his allies and critics, said Massimo Franco, Vatican expert for Italy’s Corriere della Sera.
“Speculation on the near future of his pontificate becomes less theoretical,” Franco wrote on Friday.
The pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Wednesday following breathing difficulties. He left hospital on Saturday, stopping to say hello to well-wishers and joking he was “still alive”.
Asked by someone how he felt, he quipped twice with a big smile “I am still alive!”

As the crowds clapped, Francis headed off to the Vatican to begin preparations for Holy Week and Easter, the most important week in the Christian calendar. During Palm Sunday mass, Francis is expected to remain seated while another cleric – probably a senior cardinal – conducts the ceremony at the altar.
Francis marked 10 years as the head of the worldwide Catholic Church earlier this month.
In 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign, citing his declining physical and mental health.
Conservative Benedict is credited as having served in retirement as a moderate influence. After his death, opposition to Francis from top conservatives intensified.
Francis has cautioned against papal resignations becoming the norm.
Pope Francis marks 10th anniversary with Mass and podcast
He has however left open the possibility of following in Benedict’s steps, even painting a picture of what his retirement might look like, saying he would live in Rome, possibly as a priest, and no longer wear white.
Vatican expert Iacopo Scaramuzzi said Francis’ enemies were fuelling speculation through an old tactic of using his health “as a battleground – inflating partially true news or making it up entirely”.
In October 2015, when the pope was pushing the Church to be more forgiving to remarried divorcees, enraging traditionalists, the Vatican had to deny rumours Francis had a brain tumour.
“The game is being played again now,” Scaramuzzi said, amid talk that doctors found a tumour when Francis underwent a colon operation in 2021 and he now has widespread cancer.
The pope denied those reports himself in an interview last year.


Francis is well aware that the febrile wrangling over his successor goes into overdrive when he is sick.
After the 10-day stay in hospital in July 2021, he joked that “some people wanted me dead” and cardinals were already set to replace him.
The pope, who admitted last summer that he had to slow down, uses a wheelchair and walking stick for knee pain, and said in January that the problems with his intestine have returned.
But the world knows little more.
While Francis gives occasional titbits on his health in interviews, the Vatican provides barely any information, creating fertile ground for conspiracy theories.
This week, the Vatican initially said he was going into hospital for pre-planned tests, before revealing he was suffering breathing difficulties and was diagnosed with bronchitis.
“Whether there’s more to his overall health, if he’s got a tumour as some have suggested, we don’t know, we just don’t know,” Mickens said.
He said Francis deliberately keeps information to himself, “because he knows that this old Vatican machinery tends to run itself, and run the pope, and he doesn’t want that”.
But the lack of transparency also means conjecture as to how long Francis has left.
“It becomes a real sport, the Death watch”, Mickens said.


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Pope Francis

‘I’m still alive’: Pope Francis’ health woes fuel critics eyeing new head of Catholic Church

Pope Francis blesses a sick person as he leaves Rome’s Gemelli hospital. Photo: Reuters

Pope Francis’ hospitalisation was his second since 2021, when he underwent colon surgery. Photo: EPA-EFE

The 86-year-old pontiff was admitted to Gemelli hospital on March 29 after suffering from breathing difficulties. Photo: AFP

Pope Francis blesses a boy after signing the cast on the boy’s arm as he leaves the Gemelli hospital. Photo: AFP

Pope extends sex abuse law to cover lay leaders, accepts resignation of German bishop

Dealing with the scandals of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church has been a big challenge for Pope Francis. Photo: AFP

Bishop Franz-Josef Bode was accused of declaring a case of sexualised violence against minors as a ‘relationship’ as recently as last year. Photo: AP

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Pope Francis attends a meeting with refugee families at the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on Saturday. Photo: Vatican Media / ­Handout via Reuters

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Nicaraguan Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez. Photo: AFP

Pope, Anglican and Presbyterian leaders denounce criminalisation of homosexuality

Pope Francis said that laws criminalising LGBT people are a sin and an injustice. Photo: AFP

Pope Francis in Juba, South Sudan. Photo: Reuters

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Pope Francis sits next to Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi as he attends the welcoming ceremony at the Palais de la Nation on the first day of his apostolic journey in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

People gathering by the side of the road wave as Pope Francis leaves N’djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Pope Francis is welcomed by residents of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday. Photo: Vatican media via Reuters

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His increasing health issues over the past year spark concern, including speculation that he might retire rather than stay in the job for life
He will preside over Palm Sunday mass in St Peter’s Square, the start of a busy week of events leading up to Easter


His increasing health issues over the past year spark concern, including speculation that he might retire rather than stay in the job for life.


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‘I’m still alive’: Pope Francis’ health woes fuel critics eyeing new head of Catholic Church

His increasing health issues over the past year spark concern, including speculation that he might retire rather than stay in the job for life He will preside over Palm Sunday mass in St Peter’s Square, the start of a busy week of events leading up to Easter

His increasing health issues over the past year spark concern, including speculation that he might retire rather than stay in the job for life

He will preside over Palm Sunday mass in St Peter’s Square, the start of a busy week of events leading up to Easter