Pope Francis reveals he has a resignation note prepared in case of poor health

Pope Francis has revealed in an interview that, shortly after being elected pontiff in 2013, he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impede him from carrying out his duties.

In an interview published Sunday in the Spanish newspaper ABC, Francis said he gave the note to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who then was the Vatican secretary of state. The pontiff added that he presumes that the prelate currently in the Vatican’s No. 2 role, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, now has the written instruction.

Francis, who turned 86 on Saturday, had surgery in 2021 to repair a bowel narrowing and has been hobbled by knee pain that for months required him to use a wheelchair. Lately, he has increasingly used a cane instead of the wheelchair to get around in public.

In the interview, he was asked what would happen if health issues or an accident suddenly left a pope unable to do his job, and whether there should be a rule for such instances. “In practice there is already a rule. ... I have already signed my renunciation,” Francis said, noting that he did so early in the papacy.

“I signed it and said: ‘If I should become impaired for medical reasons or whatever, here is my resignation. Here you have it,’” he said, referring to Bertone, who stepped down as secretary of state in October 2013, in the first months of Francis’ papacy.

The pontiff quipped that now with the revelation of the existence of his resignation note, “someone will run up to Bertone [saying], ‘Give me that piece of paper.’”

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Francis said he was sure Bertone would have passed on the letter to the current secretary of state, Parolin.

In past remarks, Francis has hailed the decision of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, to resign when he felt he wouldn’t be best able to carry out his duties because of advancing age. Benedict, who is living in a monastery on the Vatican’s grounds, was the first pontiff to resign in 600 years, and his stepping down paved the way for Francis’ election as the first pope from South America.

In the interview, Francis played down his mobility challenges, saying: “One governs with the head, not the knee.”

Roman Catholic Church law requires that a papal resignation be “freely and properly manifested” — as was the case when Benedict startled the world by announcing his resignation to a gathering of prelates at the Vatican in February 2013.