The Pope's health: I could step down - but not yet, says pontiff [View all]
Pope Francis has said the time may soon come when he needs to consider stepping down - and would do so if he felt his health meant that could not serve in the way he should.
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The 85-year-old pontiff stressed that for the moment he intends to continue in his duties - and will be guided by God as to when he will step down, if he steps down at all.
"It is not a catastrophe to change Pope, it is not a taboo," he told journalists from a wheelchair on the plane from Canada's Arctic territory to Rome.
"The door [to retiring] is open - it is a normal option. But until today I have not knocked on that door. I have not felt the need to think about this possibility - that is not to say that in two days' time I might not start thinking about it."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62360114
Wouldn't be a bad thing to stop keeping popes hanging on as long as possible, when they become less and less able to make new plans. Staying on till death is inherently conservative.