WILL Pope Paul retire at 75? People are busy these

days assuring us that he "may." If he does, he will no longer be ruling the turbulent Catholic Church after September 26, 1972.
On the assumption that it is going to take much longer than the next two years even to begin to resolve the present upheaval, for which he is so widely and roundly blamed, this would mean that he was walking out because his opponents had worn him down and were making it too hot for him to stay. It would mean that he was ignominiously throwing in the towel and leaving it to someone else to tackle the mess his critics allege he has been steadily creating since he succeeded the late Pope John on June 23, 1963.
I, for one, do not see him resigning at 75, not, at any rate, for these much-canvassed reasons. He could resign, justly, if he became physically or mentally incapable of carrying on. He might go if he felt that the Church, at this extraordinary period of her history, sorely needed, under Christ's guidance, the leadership of a younger man.
It is also suggested that he might resign at 75 because that is the age at which he has asked his bishops to resign and, therefore, he might feel it incumbent upon himself to set them an example. I have never seen the logic of this reasoning.
Traditions of office
There are thousands of bishops; there is only one Pope, Vicar of Christ on Earth. Pope Paul is obsessed with the traditions of his office — and through the centuries it has been a tradition that, from the moment he accepts office, the Pope remains in it, doing his best come what may, until death alone removes him.
In any case, Pope Paul did not arbitrarily fix 75 as the retiring age for all bishops. He has refused to accept the resignations of quite a number he considered still in good trim and well able to continue to serve the Church. He made his retire-at-75 "suggestion" to open the way for aged. in some cases senile, bishops to depart gracefully so that their dioceses could be governed by younger, more efficient and up-to-date prelates.
If Pope Paul did retire, he would be the first Pope to do so since Celestine V in 1294. A few years ago, when visiting his grave, Pope Paul remarked that Celestine had resigned because he was misled by those around him. How avidly—and hopefully—his critics have been dragging up that observation ever since!
Apart from other considerations, for Pope Paul to walk