Unfounded rumors, so far.
The estimable Damian Thompson reports rumors are flying Pope Francis is mortally ill with cancer and that his resignation is nigh. Thompson quotes several respected Vatican watchers on this, but also points out there is no evidence whatsoever to support the rumors. Your Tatler is skeptical as well; public nuisances have a tendency not to go away on their own.
No decent person will cheer the news that someone, no matter how disagreeable, suffers from cancer, but the fact is Pope Francis is a most unpopular man these days and seems to make new enemies daily. There are many who would not shed a tear at his departure. As Thompson writes:
The best kept secret of this pontificate, at least so far as the general public in concerned, is that Jorge Bergoglio is not, and never has been, a nice man. He made so many enemies in Argentina that he hasn’t dared set foot in his native country since being elected pope. He was involved in some jaw-dropping scandals there, most shockingly his attempt to protect his child abuser ally Fr Julio Grassi from justice. He’s lucky that the Vatican press corps is too afraid of him to investigate them properly.
[ . . . ]
Francis has a streak of cruelty in him, and recently he’s done little to hide it. Last year his authoritarian attempt to crush regular celebrations of the traditional Latin Mass offended hundreds of bishops who don’t like that style of worship but dislike the Argentinian pontiff even more. They have quietly ignored the ruling . . .
(Not all have ignored that ruling. One of the Pope’s lapdogs, the Archbishop of Santa Fe, is going all guns blazing to suppress it.)
Were the Pope to leave office, of his volition or God’s, traditionalists will not have much to look forward to from his successor. Francis has lately packed the cardinalate with liberals, some even more so than he, so it’s likely to be more of the same, or worse, whoever is elected.
Thanks to William Tighe.
The Taos Tatler 