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“EACH TIME A pope takes ill, the winds of a conclave always feel as if they are blowing.”
These are the words of Pope Francis in his recently published memoir Hope, and the winds were certainly blowing strongly over the past few weeks.
Francis was released from Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Sunday after a period of 38 days.
He faced two “critical episodes” in hospital which put his life in imminent danger.
Francis now faces two months of recuperation at his Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.
During a brief appearance from his hospital window before returning home on Sunday, Francis appeared weak as he blessed the crowds that had gathered.
He spoke only to praise a woman who was holding yellow flowers, flowers he left at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major during an unscheduled stop en route to the Vatican.
At a press conference on Saturday announcing that Francis would be released the following day, a journalist asked if Francis was “putting pressure” on doctors to let him return to the Vatican.
“No pressure, but agreement concerning the reaction of the pope and his interest in being released from the hospital,” said the Vatican’s spokesperson Matteo Bruni.
However, it is understood that there is a concern that Francis will try to return to work too quickly, and risk impacting his health.
It has also been reported that Francis initially resisted going to hospital but was told that he risked dying if he disobeyed doctor’s orders.
Francis has a strong work ethic and was working right up until his hospitalisation.
He has said in the past that he wants to keep doctors at arm’s length.
“The doctor and I are both better off when we are in our own homes,” Francis joked in an interview published in 2021.
Francis was twice at risk of death during his recent hospitalisation, but it is not the first time he had faced extended periods in hospital.
He underwent a hernia operation in June 2023, and in 2021 he underwent surgery for a type of diverticulitis, an inflammation of pockets that develop in the lining of the intestine.
“The reality is that even during the days of surgery I never thought of resigning, except to say that it is always a possibility,” wrote Francis in his memoir.
Francis said that at the moment of his election, he “delivered a letter of resignation to the camerlengo”, the Cardinal who runs the Vatican in the period between the death or resignation of a pontiff and the election of a new one.
The current camerlengo is Irish-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell.
Francis said his letter of resignation would become applicable “in the event of impediment for medical reasons”.
Francis, who was elected in 2013, also revealed that he felt his papacy would be “brief”.
“No more than three or four years, I thought. I never imagined that I would have made all those journeys to more than sixty countries.”
In 2022, rumours swirled that Francis would soon resign and call a conclave – but this was correctly dismissed as nothing more than “a cheap soap opera” by one cardinal.
However, critics of Francis might now query whether the bar he himself set for retirement, that of “impediment for medical reasons”, has been reached.
Austen Ivereigh, a papal biographer, told CNN that this is unlikely.
“I think the only circumstances under which he 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,” said Ivereigh.
And when reflecting on his health issues in his memoir, Francis writes that “the Church is governed using the head and the heart”.
At Saturday’s press conference announcing Francis would be discharged from hospital, his doctors noted that he “always remained alert and oriented” during his hospitalisation.
In 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope in around 600 years to resign, and Francis said this removed the taboo on resigning and “opened the door” for future popes to step down.
However, the papacy is typically an office held until death and, in 2023, Francis remarked: “I believe that the pope’s ministry is ad vitam [for life].”
This was the first time Francis had stressed the “as vitam” nature of the papacy.
Francis continued to work while in hospital, speaking to the Catholic parish of Gaza, publishing messages to the faithful, and appointing people to senior roles within the Vatican.
But the biggest move he made while in hospital was to extend his years-long Synod process into 2028.
For many, Francis’s laying out of plans for the global Catholic Church into 2028 underscored his intention to remain in office despite a potential long road to recovery.
Announced in 2020 and launched by Pope Francis in 2021, the Synod unfolded at the local, national, and then continental level.
It culminated in two month-long gatherings at the Vatican in October 2023 and October 2024.
It’s seen as the cornerstone of Francis’s legacy and focuses largely on how to make the Catholic Church a more welcoming and inclusive place for all of its members, especially women and laypeople.
The Synod was the first time the Vatican waded into so many contentious, contemporary social issues openly, from the place of LGBTQ Catholics to whether women should be ordained as deacons.
The three-year extension of the Synod to 2028 will allow for these findings to be incorporated.
In his final address to the Synod participants last October, Francis called for a period of “discerning and evaluating” in relation to the final document arising from the Synod.
This final document called for greater involvement from lay people in decision-making, more leadership positions for women, enhanced financial transparency and protocols for abuse prevention, and new procedures for selecting and evaluating bishops
The extension will also include an evaluation period that begins in local churches, then moving to national and international gatherings.
In June 2028, the Vatican will publish the Instrumentum Laboris, or guiding document, from this evaluation period announced by Francis, before culminating in a global gathering at the Vatican in October 2028.
This three-year period will allow the church to evaluate how global Catholic communities have implemented the recommendations from the Synod and the Vatican gathering in October 2028 is described as “consolidating the path taken so far”.
Meanwhile, the doctor who led the medical team that treated Francis has spoken about the pontiff’s time in hospital.
In an interview with daily Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Dr Sergio Alfieri said the critical episode on the afternoon of 28 February was the “worst moment”.
“For the first time I saw tears in the eyes of some of the people around him,” said Alfieri.
“We were all aware that the situation had further worsened and there was a risk that he might not make it.
“We had to choose whether to stop and let him go or force it and try all the drugs and therapies possible, running the very high risk of damaging other organs.”
Alfieri said this episode was “terrible” because Francis knew he might not survive the night.
“Try everything, don’t give up,” is what Francis is said to have told his medical team.
Alfieri added that Francis was aware of conspiracies that he had died, and that Francis “reacted with his usual irony”.
On Saturday, Francis said to his medical team: “I’m still alive, when are we going home?”
The next day, he made his brief appearance at the window of his room at the Gemelli hospital and headed home to the Vatican.
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This is a complete myth, it is not easy to switch your mortgage, you essentially have to be completely reassessed again.
@Keith Twamley: of course you do …that’s exactly what a remortgage is
@Mark: Did you read the article Mark?
“Where you have switching that’s easy and fast, you have more competition”
@Keith Twamley: I was fixed for 5 years, 2 years in I asked about switching to the much lower new rate they have, No issue whatsoever no cost at all new rate fixed it for 4 years and reduced the term, all done over email took about 10 days. If you don’t ask you won’t get, I was surprised how easy it was and that their was no cost involved. EBS btw.
@Keith Twamley: It really should be as easy as switching electricity/gas.
Wont happen but it should be.
@Keith Twamley: That sounds great Cormac, unfortunately I don’t think it is the experience most have though, it really should be that easy, but usually is not, which is why most people are so reluctant to do it..
@Cormac Harte: Same here actually. Was on a fixed rate with the bank. I asked them if there would be any fee going to a new lower fixed rate. No problems.
And I did it again where I got a lower LTV rate. Again no problems. All with the same bank over the last 2 years.
@Keith Twamley: I think the issue is if your moving to a different bank you have to go through the whole rigmarole. If people look a little closer to home with their own banks 90% of them have far lower rates that they did 2 years ago worth a try asking for the lower rate I know 2 others mates that did the same thing with a different bank and same thing a very easy process. switching mortgage doesn’t necessarily mean switching banks. It’s worth a shot.
@Cormac Harte: Yes, thanks Cormac, I appreciate it is easier when sticking with the same bank. The article was really talking about switching providers. Just think there are so many things wrong with the banks, central bank has a lot to do with it too. Given the high price of houses currently, it doesn’t make sense to only be able to borrow 3.5 times your salary. And rent not being taken in to account in todays market is also crazy. I am foolishly hopeful that some of these issues will be addressed in next months budget. But think it will always be difficult to switch providers.
@Keith Twamley: that quote was from a commission member, not a Bank CEO. So I wouldn’t rely on it for your argument. Banks need to make sure you’re a good risk, so obviously they’ll do due diligence. Unlike the Celtic Tiger days, and we all know what lax assessment criteria resulted in. So this thorough ressement is the correct, prudent approach for a Bank
@Cormac Harte: switching can be easy enough when you’re staying within the same institution, it’s a completely different kettle of fish when you’re transferring externally. We’ve done it and saved thousands but it’s long and complicated, you also need to consider solicitor fees etc.
@Mark: It’s not a remortgage, that doesn’t exist in Ireland. The ‘person’ at BOI told us ‘they’d never heard of a remortgage’
Remortgaging (or whatever its called here), is like competing in Jumanji
In the process of switching. Taken about six months already
@Rmaybe: I was trying to switch to Avant earlier this year. I gave up after being asked for accountant letter, payslips (for the third time) and other docs. Our mortgage is 15 years old, we’re earning twice what we were earning back then and we’ve never missed one payment.
In the end I just contacted my current lender and fixed at their lowest fixed rate. Not quite as good as Avants but soooooo much simpler and no need for solicitors and it took one phone call and one form to sign.
It’s not that easy to switch I’ve tried and even though I’ve been over paying my mortgage for 4 years the bank says my earnings dont qualify for a mortgage so I’m stuck.
So, here come higher interest fixed rates, in exchange for longer fixed loan terms.
The banks will always win no matter what and that’s ok as long it’s within a reasonable margin ,that end has to be controlled
I still don’t get what’s the reason why we can’t have fix rate for the full duration of the mortgage?
Is the journal fffg in disguise ?
Banker rhymes with w##nker
Well I hope its easier then trying to switch a simple current account from Ulster Bank owing to its exit from Ireland
@Mary Garry: I switched from UB to PTSB. I don’t trust the banks to not fuk it up so I opened the new account and transferred the direct debits manually. It’s a bit more effort but not that hard.
It was a nightmare to switch our mortgage. Aside from finding it almost impossible to get talking to a human or to get a callback, from when we put in the application to when it eventually got processed months later the interest rates rose, thereby wiping out any savings achieved by switching. We got the old rate in the end but if a private company was run as inefficiently as the banks they would quickly go out of business.
CCPC or which ever agency has power should be legislating for switching mortgages to be easier. ( not just rates, but providers)
In the USA you can switch mortgage providers in a matter of days. No re-conveyancing, no silly solicitors fees which are very prohibitive.
If switching was easier it would allow for more competition with existing banks and might even encourage new banks to enter the market because they have a shot at attracting current low risk mortgage payers to their books.
@Rmaybe: I was trying to switch to Avant earlier this year. I gave up after being asked for accountant letter, payslips (for the third time) and other docs. Our mortgage is 15 years old, we’re earning twice what we were earning back then and we’ve never missed one payment.
In the end I just contacted my current lender and fixed at their lowest fixed rate. Not quite as good as Avants but soooooo much simpler and no need for solicitors and it took one phone call and one form to sign.
Almost zero choice in mortgage providers. Well done Fine Gael.
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