'Fantasy' talk on Pope resigning

POPE PAUL had no intention of resigning. The idea was "mere fantasy".
This statement was made officially on Monday by Fr Romeo Panciroli, the official Vatican Press spokesman.
Fr Panciroli was refuting various articles and reports in a number of foreign newspapers, as well as in an Italian weekly magazine, that "papal envoys" had been exploring various monastries on the Pope's behalf, ostensibly because he was seeking a place into which he could retire.
Because Pope Paul will be 80 on September 26 and, earlier in his pontificate,had decreed that cardinals could no longer vote in Conclave for a papal successor once they attained
that age, there have been repeated rumours that he would resign once he was 80.
Responsible Vatican officials have strenuously denied this over the past months. It is pointed out that it would be a most irresponsible act for the Pope to resign only four days before a Synod was due to convene.
"Such an act would automatically mean the cancellation of the Synod, and Pope Paul would never act in such an irresponsible manner," says Vatican observers.
"Pope Paul might resign in the future," they say, "but only should he feel that he was incapable of cokinuing at the head of the Church in full capability of effective leadership."