{"id":16590,"date":"2023-01-18T14:44:03","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T19:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=16590"},"modified":"2023-01-24T14:27:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T19:27:25","slug":"italian-cardinal-reveals-conservative-plan-to-force-pope-francis-to-step-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/01\/italian-cardinal-reveals-conservative-plan-to-force-pope-francis-to-step-down","title":{"rendered":"Italian Archbishop Reveals Conservative Plan to Force Pope Francis to Step Down"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_16593\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16593\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/01\/pope-francis-2.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16593\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/01\/pope-francis-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"582\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16593\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Giulio Napolitano \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Less than a month after the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, rumors are arising of Vatican conservatives working to force Pope Francis\u2019s resignation. According to the Italian newspaper <\/span>La Stampa<span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, conservatives are ready to <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-11614445\/Conservatives-wage-secret-plan-liberal-pontiff-stress-step-down.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">move against the Pope<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0due to his more liberal leanings, including his criticisms against capitalism, his criticisms of the Latin Mass, and his blas\u00e9 attitude towards gay marriage and abortion.\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">La Stampa\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">stated it had spoken to an archbishop with knowledge of the situation, who stated, \u201cThe secret plan will be formulated on various axes and phases, but it will have one objective &#8211; to place the pontificate under such stress that Francis will have to resign. The opponents of Francis know that right now they are in the minority, that they will need time to both win a consensus and to weaken [him].\u201d The plan would involve criticism of Pope Francis\u2019s \u201cdoctrinal choices\u201d to create \u201cdiscontent.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The report comes on the heels of the release of Archbishop Georg G\u00e4nswein book, <\/span>Nothing But the Truth: My Life Beside Pope Benedict XVI<span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, which paints Pope Francis in a poor light and accuses him of being cruel to Benedict while the two lived in the Vatican. G\u00e4nswein, who spent the last 19 years as Benedict\u2019s personal secretary, accuses Francis of essentially firing him in 2020, telling G\u00e4nswein not to return to the office and instead to care for the ailing Benedict. The book also prints private letters and conversations between the two pontificates, showing a less-than-peaceful relationship. G\u00e4nswein has also been very critical of Pope Francis\u2019s decision to limit the Latin Mass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Apart from conservative discontent with Pope Francis\u2019s decisions, the pontificate\u2019s health also remains an issue. The Pope has had increasing mobility issues. Last June, he <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-62360114\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">alluded<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0to the possibility of stepping down. Sitting in a wheelchair due to continuous knee trouble, the Pope told a group of journalists in Canada, \u201cIt is not a catastrophe to change Pope. It is not a taboo. The door [to retiring] is open &#8211; it is a normal option. But until today, I have not knocked on that door. I have not felt the need to think about this possibility &#8211; that is not to say that in two days\u2019 time, I might not start thinking about it.\u201d The Pope also recently revealed that he has\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/12\/18\/europe\/pope-francis-bad-health-resignation-letter-intl\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">already signed a resignation letter<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0in case of the deterioration of his health. \u201cI have already signed my renunciation. The Secretary of State at the time was Tarcisio Bertone. I signed it and said: \u2018If I should become impaired for medical reasons or whatever, here is my renunciation,\u2019\u201d the Pope is reported to have said. Tarcisio Bertone has since retired, and the Pope stated he does not know who has the letter now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If Pope Francis were to step down, it would be an extremely rare occurrence, with Pope Emeritus Benedict\u2019s unexpected resignation in 2013 being the first instance in 600 years. Pope Benedict\u2019s resignation was a massive shock to the Catholic world and has caused the Church to rethink ways to make the resignations of pontiffs less earth-shattering. According to a\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/religionunplugged.com\/news\/2023\/1\/10\/will-pope-francis-resign-now-that-benedict-xvi-has-died\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Reuters\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">report<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, \u201cNow that longer life spans have made papal resignations no longer unthinkable, there have been repeated calls from Church leaders to regulate the role of former pontiffs, in part because of the confusion stemming wrought by two men wearing white living in the Vatican.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Less than a month after the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, rumors are arising of Vatican conservatives working to force Pope Francis\u2019s resignation. According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, conservatives are ready to move against the Pope\u00a0due to his more liberal leanings, including his criticisms against capitalism, his criticisms of the Latin Mass,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":16593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Italian Archbishop Reveals Conservative Plan to Force Pope Francis to Step Down<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican conservatives are rumored to be preparing a plan to fore Pope Francis to step down.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" 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