Rome
CNN
—
When Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign in 600 years it sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church. Now, after spending two weeks in hospital battling pneumonia, the speculation in the Vatican is whether his successor Pope Francis might do the same.
“I think the only circumstances under which he (Francis) would consider resignation, as he has said, would be if he had a long-term degenerative or debilitating condition which prevented him from fully carrying out the papal ministry,” Austen Ivereigh, a papal biographer, told CNN.
The pope was put on a breathing machine on Friday, after suffering a sudden episode of respiratory difficulty, the…
