Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia: The pope is not a president

As luck would have it, 24 hours after Pope Francis was discharged from Rome's Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican held a conference on Monday afternoon titled: "Challenging the Clock of Time.” The event brought together Nobel laureates, scientists, and leaders to reflect on issues related to “healthy, sustainable and integral aging.”

Interviewed by the press ahead of the meeting, Archbishop Paglia looked back on the Argentine pope's 38-day hospitalization. “He demonstrated that old age is a sign of fragility; and fragility is not rejected,” he said.

“In recent days, the Pope has offered an extraordinary lesson, not with words but with his body. He has told everyone, including youth, that we are all fragile, that we must take care of each other,” continued the Italian prelate.

For the president of the Academy for Life, the Pope's testimony is of great importance in a society that “discards” the elderly.

He noted that in fact, the head of the Catholic Church has developed a “spirituality of old age” since the beginning of his pontificate. This is particularly necessary as the last century saw life expectancy double.

Wishing to dispel the idea that “old age is a shipwreck,” Archbishop Paglia emphasized the challenge of getting four generations to live together nowadays. This theme is dear to Pope Francis, who has instituted a day dedicated to grandparents and the elderly.

The Italian archbishop spoke on the question of the ability of popes to govern at an advanced age. He explained that it was necessary to “get away from an overly functionalist conception” of the papacy.

“The Church is not guided by a president of the republic or a prime minister; it is guided by the Holy Spirit,” he said. He also cited a few examples of popes who had to make important decisions in their old age.

Referring to Benedict XVI's decision to resign in 2013, he also brought up the stance taken by John XXIII (1881-1963) in the face of illness. According to Archbishop Paglia, the Italian pope assessed the risk-benefit ratio between an operation “that could have caused his death” and living without the operation. And he recounts: “He asked the doctor: ‘If you don't operate on me, how many months will I live? The doctor replied, ‘Eight or nine months.’ And the pope replied, ‘I prefer not to be operated on and to open the Second Vatican Council.’”

A few months after his election, John XXIII indeed convened a new Council, of which he only lived through the first session, in the fall of 1962. During this period of effervescence at the beginning of the Council, a digestive hemorrhage led doctors to diagnose a stomach tumor.

In the past, Pope Francis has raised the possibility of resigning. He said that he had written a letter of resignation at the beginning of his pontificate in case of major impediment. But the Argentine pope explained above all that he considered the ministry of pope to be, in theory, “ad vitam.”

Last week, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin told the press that he had “absolutely not” raised the issue of resignation with Pope Francis during his hospital visits.

Present at the opening of the conference on old age, Cardinal Parolin confirmed to journalists that the Pope “will need to remain calm, without being too disturbed.” On the resumption of public audiences, the cardinal explained that it did not seem “feasible” to him in the immediate future.

As for the trip to Turkey at the end of May to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the secretary of state replied, “It's too soon! It's not possible [to say] at the moment.”