Pope Francis has initiated a recent three-year reform process for the Catholic Church, signalling his intention to proceed his papacy despite recent health concerns.
The Vatican announced on Saturday that the 88-year-old pontiff, currently hospitalised with double pneumonia, had approved the extension of the Synod of Bishops.
The initiative, a trademark of his 12-year tenure, will engage in global consultations with Catholics over the following three years, culminating in a summit in 2028.
This synod has already tackled potentially significant reforms, including the role of girls as deacons and greater inclusion of LGBTQ+ people inside the Church.
An initial summit held in October 2024 on the Vatican yielded inconclusive results, prompting the prolonged process.
The timing of the announcement is noteworthy, given Francis’s recent hospitalisation and prolonged public absence.
Speculation has arisen regarding a possible resignation, mirroring the trail of his predecessor, Benedict XVI.
However, close associates and biographers have maintained that he has no intention of stepping down.
The commitment to a three-year reform process reinforces this stance, suggesting his determination to proceed leading the Church, whilst he faces a potentially difficult recovery.
The Vatican said that Francis approved the brand new process on Tuesday from his hospital bed in Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
“The Holy Father … helps push the renewal of the Church toward a recent missionary impulse,” Cardinal Mario Grech, the official leading the reform process, told the Vatican’s media outlet.
“This is actually an indication of hope.”
Bringing church ‘up so far’
Francis, who has been pope since 2013, is widely seen as attempting to open up the staid global Church to the fashionable world.
However, the pope’s reform agenda has upset some Catholics, including just a few senior cardinals. They have accused him of watering down the Church’s teachings on issues comparable to same-sex marriage, and divorce and remarriage.
Massimo Faggioli, a US academic who has followed the papacy closely, said the brand new reform process is a way for the pope to signal that he remains to be the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
“Francis’ pontificate shouldn’t be over, and this decision he just made for what happens between now and 2028 could have an effect on the remainder of (it),” said Mr Faggioli, a professor at Villanova University.
After last October’s inconclusive Vatican summit, which yielded no concrete motion on possible reforms, Francis had faced questions of whether his papacy was running out of steam.
Vatican officials had said on the time that Francis was still considering future changes, and was waiting to receive a series of 10 expected reports about possible reforms this June.
The latest medical bulletins from the Vatican on the pope’s condition in hospital have said he’s improving and is now not in immediate danger of death.
They haven’t said when he will likely be discharged from hospital.
Well-wishers have been gathering to supply support for Francis outside the hospital every day throughout the pope’s recovery.
Stefania Gianni, an Italian being treated for cancer at the ability, said on Saturday that Francis “has taken great steps to bring the Church up so far with the times”.
“He is an amazing man and an amazing pope, and the Church still needs him,” she said.
