Who runs the Vatican while Pope Francis is hospitalized?

Pope Francis entered the hospital to receive bronchitis treatment on February 14. Almost two weeks later, doctors say that the Pope, who contracted a case of double pneumonia while he was at the Gemelli hospital in Rome and experienced a “respiratory crisis” on Saturday, will remain in the center while recovering due to his “complex” medical situation.

A prolonged stay in the hospital of one of the most important international figures in the world can ask the question: Who directs exactly the Vatican when a Pope is hospitalized or cannot perform his normal tasks?

Matthew Bunnson, vice president and editorial director of EWTN News and author of numerous books about Catholicism, including Encyclopedia of Catholic History (Encyclopedia of Catholic History), he told CNA – an English assistance of Ewtn News – that although Pope Francis has been in the hospital for almost two weeks, he has continued at least some supervision of Vatican’s affairs.

Bunnson pointed to the coverage of ACI Print “Ewtn News Agency in Italian,” who reported that the Pope at the beginning of this week met with his secretaries in the Gemelli while recovering from his illness.

“So clearly he is still in contact with the Vatican and is still making decisions,” Bunson said.

In such cases, he said, “the state machinery tends to continue working until the moment we enter an interregno,” the period between two popes.

Andreas Widmer, associate professor of business practice at the Busch School of Business of the Catholic University of America and former Swiss guard of the Vatican, also said that much of the Vatican administration continues even when the Pope is sick.

“Things are still their course. (Vatican officials) keep him under observation, ”said Widmer, who served as a Swiss guard during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II in the 1980s and who regularly returns to the Vatican to work with the guard.

“From what I understand, the Pope is still lucid and working,” Widmer said about Francisco’s current hospitalization. “Maybe he doesn’t work for his 12 hours a day, but he is working and meeting with people.”

In some cases, the potatoes have addressed the possible need for resignations in advance. In 1965, Pope Paul VI wrote a letter to the dean of the Cardinal College in which he claimed that, in case he was incapacitated during the exercise of the position, he should be considered resigned. (Pope Paul VI lived another 13 years and died during the exercise of the position).

In 2022, Pope Francis revealed that in the first year of his pontificate he signed his resignation and handed it to the then Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to invoke her if she was medically incapacitated and could not carry out her functions. (“I don’t know who Cardinal Bertone will have given her, but he was given when she was secretary of state,” the Pope joked on that occasion).

However, in his biography last year, the Pope said that the Petrino Ministry is “to life (for a lifetime) ”And does not see conditions for resignation, except for a serious physical disability.

Widmer said that potatoes do not usually leave these types of unsolved issues in one way or another. “A Pope is not going to leave this at random. They take their responsibility very seriously, ”he said.

Bunnson recalled the recent similar case in which the health of San Juan Paul II declined towards the end of his pontificate; During that period, he said, it was clear that preparations were being made for a possible interregno.

“It is clear that we are not yet in that position, so the Roman curia continues to work,” he said.

In case of death of a Pope, Bunnson said, much of the immediate administration of the Vatican falls to the Camarlengo of the Holy Roman Church, one of the few Vatican officials who does not immediately lose his work when a Pope dies. Its functions include certifying the death of the Pope and supervising the functions of the interregno.

“His work is to certify the death of the reigning Pope and make sure his wishes are respected,” Bunson explained. “Then the cardinals are summoned to Rome”, after which a new Pope is eventually chosen.

It also retains its title in the event of the death of a Pope the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the dicascery whose main role is the forgiveness of sins.

That official “always retains his work,” said Bunnson, “because there must always be the opportunity for God’s love mercy.”

A second key official is the alms of His Holiness, the cardinal in charge of papal charity and the care of the poor. It was Pope Francis who decreed that the alms maintained his post, which reflects the concern of the Holy Father for the forgotten and the most vulnerable.

Although Catholics may feel curious to know how the Vatican is handled during the hospitalization of a Pope, Widmer pointed out a rumor that said it was “a complete nonsense”: the statement that the Swiss guards are “rehearsing” for the funeral of the Holy Father.

In recent days, reports on such trials have circulated in the international media, although the Swiss guard itself has denied such statements.

It is “complete garbage,” Widmer said about rumors, arguing that the Swiss guard is already prepared for this type of events as a normal part of his employment.

“No one has to practice anything. It is what they do, ”he said.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.