Pope's health issues fuel resignation rumours

VATICAN CITY • Pope Francis has fuelled the rumour mill with a postponed Africa trip and the curious timing of a meeting of cardinals, but experts caution against assuming a resignation is nigh.

Hobbled by pain in his knee and forced to use a wheelchair in recent weeks, the 85-year-old pontiff postponed a July trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan last week.

That move, along with an unusual decision to hold a consistory to name new cardinals during the vacation month of August, triggered intense speculation about his plans for the future, including the most radical - that he was planning to step down.

Not so fast, many say. "In the Pope's entourage, the majority of people don't really believe in the possibility of a resignation," a Vatican source told AFP.

Rumours within the insular Roman Curia - the Catholic Church's powerful governing body - are nothing new, and often fuelled by those with an interest, said Italian Vatican expert Marco Politi.

"These rumours are encouraged by the Pope's opponents who are only eager to see Francis leave," he said.

The resignation of a Pope was once almost unthinkable. But when Pope Benedict XVI stood down in 2013, citing his declining physical and mental health, he set a precedent.

In 2014, a year after being elected to replace Benedict, Pope Francis himself told reporters that were his health to impede his functions as Pope, he would consider stepping down too. "He (Benedict) opened a door, the door to retired popes," the pontiff said then.

More recently in May, according to Italian media outlets, Pope Francis joked about his knee during a closed-door meeting with bishops: "Rather than operate, I'll resign."

However, a trip to Canada at the end of July is still on the schedule, and the Pope continues to receive injections in his knee and physical therapy, according to the Vatican.

Rumours of a resignation also flared last year after Pope Francis underwent colon surgery, prompting him to tell a Spanish radio station that the idea "hadn't even crossed my mind".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE