By: Real America News Updated 25 May 2022, 23: 25 pm EDT
The health of Pope Francis has been increasingly deteriorated and despite being forced to use a wheelchair, on several occasions he said that he does not want to be operated on and that the anesthesia gives him “annoyances”.
According to the Clarín newspaper, the Holy Father is aware of his situation, to the point of appointing Matteo Zuppi, of 66 years, Cardinal of Bologna, as the new president of the difficult Italian Episcopal Conference, which for experts means a sign of a possible successor.
“Don Matteo”, as Zuppi likes to be called, is currently the avant-garde character of the progressive wing of the Church, with ideas similar to those of Jorge bergoglio.
The appointment of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi in the conservative Italian Episcopal Conference revived rumors about the future of the supreme pontiff. https://t.co/OgL0HIGamH
— Los Primeros TV (@losprimerostuc) May 26,
The foregoing reinforces that the problems of health that the Head of the Catholic Church each time puts him in a dilemma in fulfilling harsh obligations, unleashing versions of a probable succession.
Currently the pontiff has 85 years and the next 17 of December will add another year. Although health is stable, one of the serious problems is travel. The Pope canceled some and confirmed that he will travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan in early July. An apostolic visit to Canada will follow between 04 and 30 next July.
Pope Francis has been cataloged as a bastion in the modern era of the church, but little by little his strength has been diminishing, even problems of yesteryear seem to take their toll, such as the of 1994, when he underwent surgery on his right hip in Buenos Aires. They placed a prosthesis on him, but his posture and gait due to the painful sciatica he suffers from have ended up causing him to malfunction in his right knee.
With the appointment of Zuppi a new candidate is added who could reinforce the support of the Italian cardinals, not yet identified with Bergoglio’s ideas.
Cardinals could also join who consider that the times are not ripe for the change that the election of an Asian Pope would entail.
Matteo Zuppi currently has 66 years old, his father was a journalist, his mother the niece of the famous Cardinal Carlo Confalonieri, a high figure in the Roman Curia. He studied at the State University where he graduated the 17 years in letters before entering the major seminary.
Pope Francis chose Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, considered a progressive, as the new president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, who, as a first decision, will have to address whether and how to open an investigation into the abuse of minors https://t.co/VkGoilzrlV
– Joaquín López- Dóriga (@lopezdoriga) May 04, 2022
The life of Zuppi, of whom everyone speaks well and has a character that facilitates human communication, is closely linked to the Community of Sant’Egidio, which today has a branch in Argentina and is the most important lay movement in the Church, displacing Communion and Liberation.
In 2012 was appointed bishop and three years later the new Argentine Pope promoted him to the bishopric of Bologna, in central Italy. Jorge Bergoglio elevated him to the cardinalate in 2019.
“ I have always dedicated myself to the last, the marginalized of society: poor, migrants, drug addicts”, he said.
In recent years he has endeavored to facilitate the integration of immigrants and to achieve a more welcoming treatment of homosexuals in the Church.
“When in our communities we seriously begin to see people as God sees them, then also homosexual people and all others will naturally begin to feel part of the community”, he wrote.
As president of the Episcopal Conference of Italy, Zuppi will intervene in the main questions of the public discussion. It will be a big change, because the national assembly of bishops has traditionally been in more conservative hands for decades.
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