ROME — Pope Francis has revealed in an interview released Sunday he signed a letter of resignation in case of health impediments years ago and delivered it to the Vatican Secretariat of State.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC, the pontiff said that early in his pontificate he handed then-Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone a letter in which he declared that he would renounce in the event of serious and permanent health-related impediments.
“I already signed my resignation,” he told ABC’s director Julián Quirós. “It was when Tarcisio Bertone was secretary of state. I signed the resignation and told him: ‘In case of medical impediment or whatever, here is my resignation. You have it.’”
“I don’t know who Bertone gave it to, but I gave it to him when he was secretary of state,” he added.
Asked by the reporter whether the pope wanted this to be made public, Francis replied: “That’s why I’m telling you,” adding that Pope Paul VI had also left a similar conditional resignation and that Pope Pius XII had probably done so too.
“It’s the first time I’ve said it,” Francis said. “Now maybe someone will go and ask Bertone: ‘Give me that letter’ (laughing). He surely would have handed it over to the new secretary of state. I gave it to him as Secretary of State.”
Vatican News noted that the precedent of Pope Paul VI referred to by Francis is contained in a 2018 book edited by Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, which disclosed that Pope Paul declared in 1965 that he would renounce in case of disabling illness.
In 2013, Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign, making way for the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who took the name of Francis.
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