The Current - The letter Pope Francis wrote, in case he became incapacitated

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

Pope Francis remains in critical condition, after his health took a turn for the worse over the weekend. The CBC's Megan Williams joins us from Rome, where the Pope has left a letter that is believed to contain his resignation, should he be medically incapacitated.

Larry Driscoll confessed to a murder that he swears he did not commit. And yet in 2015, Driscoll found himself in a police station describing the crime. And there was a confrontation in the vehicle. I think she was trying to take my billfold and I went to defend myself to try to push her out of the car. I'm Kathleen Goltar and this week on Crime Story, the interrogation that sent an innocent man to prison. Find Crime Story wherever you get your podcasts.

This is a CBC podcast. Hello, it's Matt here. Thanks for listening to The Current, wherever you're getting this podcast. Before we get to today's show, wonder if I might ask a favor of you if you could hit the follow button on whatever app you're using There is a lot of news that's out there these days We're trying to help you make sense of it all and give you a bit of a break from some of that news, too So if you already follow the program, thank you

And if you have done that maybe you could leave us a rating or review as well The whole point of this is to let more listeners find our show and perhaps find some of that information that's so important in these really tricky times. So thanks for all of that. Appreciate it. And on to today's show. Pope Francis was supposed to celebrate Mass and ordain hundreds of deacons yesterday as part of the Vatican's Holy Year commemoration.

But for the second Sunday in a row, he was in hospital battling double pneumonia. The 88-year-old Pontiff's touch-and-go health took a sharp turn for the worse over the weekend after he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis requiring high flow oxygen and blood transfusions. And for the first time on Saturday, the Vatican described the Pope's condition as critical. Megan Williams is the CBC's Rome correspondent.

Megan, good morning. Good morning, Matt. What are you hearing from Vatican officials about how Pope Francis is doing this morning? Well, the latest update is that he made it through the night, he's alert. I spoke with some Vatican sources after this morning's bulletin came through

and they said, you know, he's not in pain, he's still able to get out of bed, sit up, talk, eat. Yesterday he took part in a mass in his room, but as you said, his condition remains critical. I mean, he had that terrible breathing episode, or when he was struggling to breathe on Saturday, which seems to be the worst day so far. Blood transfusion, he had two units of blood as well over the weekend. Last evening, when the Vatican gives its detailed statement

on the Pope's health around seven o'clock here in Rome, you know, they said there are signs that he's starting early kidney failure. Now the doctors say they have that under control, but that's worrying. It's not clear whether it's sepsis or not, meaning that germs from his double pneumonia have gotten into the bloodstream and are affecting other organs. The Vatican isn't saying what the cause of the kidney problems are, but he's not in good shape, that's for sure.

You mentioned the bulletins that come out with the latest on his health, and there is careful analysis of the language that is used in those bulletins, talking about how he had a peaceful evening, a tranquil evening that he is now resting. He's been in hospital since the 14th of February. He's 88 years old.

What do you take from that information and what is the sense there in Rome about what happens now? Well, I think the sense is that he could go anytime. I mean, I find it interesting, these health updates, because I covered Pope John Paul II's, what they called, death watch. He was very sick for a long time in the hospital in the same suite on the 10th floor at the

Jumeli Hospital for months cumulatively towards the end of his life. But there was always sort of a deciphering of what these statements meant, how close was he to death? I mean what strikes me about Pope Francis and the the medical updates that are coming out of the hospital is there they're Fairly straightforward and it you just don't get the sense and anybody's hiding anything and that you know that he could go anytime It's not clear whether he's going to get through this situation. As you say, he's 88 years old and he had part of his one lung removed when he was in his early 20s.

So that doesn't help. The American Cardinal, Timothy Dolan, spoke yesterday from New York City saying that he believes the Pope is in very, very fragile health and in his words, probably close to death. He, Pope Francis, is the spiritual leader of almost 1.4 billion Roman Catholics around the world. What are you hearing in Rome from them, from his followers? Well, what the cardinals are saying, I mean, usually you can get a little kind of gossip

or the politics starts to kick in a little bit, but what higher ups that I'm hearing from Cardinals or Bishops is that they're all just saying they're praying, which underlines, underscores the fact that he could be dying. What strikes me talking to people in St. Peter's Square, and there are a lot of pilgrims, this is the Holy Jubilee year, so there's lots of religious Catholics coming through and, you know, very upset. But there's also a lot of just ordinary tourists who aren't necessarily religious or Catholic. And what strikes me is just how meaningful this pope is to so many people who aren't Catholic. You know, they just feel like this is a pope who, who, who, you know, is responding to important modern issues, current issues that, um, is, is a

kind, welcoming person and who has shifted the Catholic church in that direction. He made instructions, um, a number of years ago, but what should happen in the case that he should fall severely ill. What do we know about what he said in those instructions? Well, we don't because he gave it to the Vatican Secretary of State, who I think is one of the only people who's seen it. Maybe there's one other person who's seen it in the Vatican.

But we do know through hearsay, and the Pope has talked about it, that it's likely a resignation if his health gets to the point where he's incapacitated, where he can't make decisions, make clear decisions, and think properly as Pope, or goes into a coma, or anything like that. It's basically, I think, a way to avoid what happened with Pope John Paul II,

with those final years where there was somebody increasingly incapacitated at the head of the Catholic Church. So, you know, we'll see. We'll see if they reveal that letter, but we do know that he has written instructions about what to do if he can't carry out his duties as pope. I'll let you go, but I mean, is the process such as it is, it hasn't started because he is still fighting all of the things that he's up against, but is that process of beginning

to start to think about choosing a new pope, does that machine begin to kick into gear soon? I don't get the sense that's kicking in yet. I'm sure cardinals are starting to think of it, but again, I think everybody is just really holding their breath right now. And when he dies, that of course really kicks in, but I don't get a big sense of it yet. Megan, we will continue to watch this. Thank you very much. Thanks, Matt.

Megan Williams is the CBC's Rome correspondent.