From Vatican News:
The Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera” releases several passages from Pope Francis’ autobiographical book entitled “Life. My Story in History,” written with Vatican journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, set to be released on March 19 by HarperCollins.
In the passages released on Thursday, the Pope clarified that were he to resign, he would not choose to be called “Pope Emeritus” but simply “Bishop Emeritus of Rome.”
In that case, he would live in the Basilica of St. Mary Major “to return to being a confessor and bring communion to the sick.”
The Pope clarified this possible scenario in case of his resignation, which, however, he emphasized, “is a distant hypothesis” because there are no “so serious reasons” to consider this possibility, which he said he never considers, “despite moments of difficulty.”
There are no “conditions for a resignation,” according to Pope Francis, unless “a serious physical impediment” arose, in which case a “letter of resignation” deposited in the Secretariat of State signed by Bergoglio at the beginning of his pontificate would apply.
He added that the possibility remains remote, since the Pope “is in good health and, God willing, there are many projects still to be realized.”
The book spans over 300 pages and covers all aspects of Pope Francis’s life, from his relationship with his family, especially with his grandparents, their emigration to Argentina in 1929, a “little derailment” during his seminary period, and World War II with its dramatic atomic epilogue.
“The use of atomic energy for war purposes is a crime against humanity, our dignity, and any future possibility in our common home,” said the Pope, posing the heavy question of how one can claim to be a “champion of peace and justice while building new weapons of war.”
The pages traverse the history of the Argentine dictatorship, the deep connections that Jorge Mario Bergoglio had with those who did not survive it, his commitment to sheltering young people at risk during General Jorge Rafael Videla’s regime, and the failed attempt to save his influential teacher, Esther.
