Providence College professor weighs in on Pope Francis’ declining health

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Pope Francis’ condition has slightly improved after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

The 88-year-old pontiff was admitted to the hospital Friday when his bronchitis worsened.

The pope’s declining health has many Catholics worried and some wondering, ‘what’s next?’

“I do hope he does get better. If he doesn’t recover, I’m not entirely sure what would happen, I guess they would have to go through a new process but I think he’s been a good pope, he’s been trying to do the best he can,” Providence College senior Gabriel Benz said.

James Keating, a professor of theology at PC, knows a thing or two about this process.

“The Catholics pray he gets better but he’s 88, and popes are mortal like everybody else, and we have to be prepared for what’s going to happen,” Keating said.

According to Keating, there are a few options: Pope Francis hopefully gets better and can continue to serve as pope or if he dies, the process begins.

“The Catholic Church has long experience on what to do when a pope dies and those procedures would kick into gear, we would have a conclave and we’d elect a new pope,” Keating explained.

Lastly, Pope Francis could be considered incapacitated, which Keating said is complex.

“He has said before that he didn’t want to resign, he didn’t want to have two popes resign in a row, so that would be more of a complicated question,” Keating said. “They do have procedures for an incapacitated pope, but determining what incapacitated means can be very difficult.”

Since becoming pope in 2013, Keating said Francis focused on working with people and changed the Catholic Church in significant ways, such as making global warming and immigration a major focus of his.

“Francis has been a controversial pope, these have been controversial times and so the question that will face the conclave is ‘do we want more Francis? Or do we want a different kind of direction,'” Keating said. “‘Cause one of the things Francis has done is he did not follow the typical means by which someone becomes a cardinal, he has chosen people from all over the world, some people in relatively small dioceses to bring in their own particular perspectives so when Pope Francis dies, whenever that happens, we will face a conclave like we never have before.”