to oversee the transfer of power in case a president dies or becomes incapacitated.įrancis recently revealed, however, that he had already penned a letter of resignation if he were to become incapacitated for a medical reason.
There is no indication Francis is moving on the proposals, which seek to fill the legislative loophole that the 25th Amendment filled in the U.S. “If, with all the possible guarantees and procedures defined, it is verified that the Roman See is impeded by a certain, permanent and incurable incapacity of a pope, it’s necessary to proceed toward the election of his successor,” Boni said in an email. In the case of a temporary impediment, they would name a commission to govern, with periodical medical checks every six months to determine the status of the pope. Under the proposed norms, the governance of the universal church would pass to the College of Cardinals. They created a canonical crowd-sourcing initiative in 2021 to craft a new church law regulating the office of a retired pope as well as norms to apply when a pope is unable to govern, either temporarily or permanently.
Recently, a team of canon lawyers set out to propose norms to fill that legislative gap. But it doesn’t say what it means for the Holy See to be “entirely impeded” or what provisions might come into play if it ever were.
In such cases, the day-to-day running of the diocese shifts to an auxiliary bishop, a vicar general or someone else.Įven though Francis is the bishop of Rome, no explicit provision exists for the pope if he similarly becomes “impeded.” Canon 335 declares simply that when the Holy See is “vacant or entirely impeded,” nothing can be altered in the governance of the church. Canon 412 says a diocese can be declared “impeded” if its bishop - due to “captivity, banishment, exile, or incapacity” - cannot fulfill his pastoral functions. Canon law does have provisions for when a bishop gets sick and can’t run his diocese, but none for a pope.
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