BERLIN — Pope Benedict XVI said last August that his strength was diminishing and “not much more” could be expected from him as pontiff, according to a German journalist who interviewed him for a 2010 book in which Benedict said popes should in some circumstances consider resigning.
Journalist Peter Seewald recalled in an article for German weekly Focus published Saturday asking Benedict during a meeting last August at the pontiff’s summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, what more could be expected of him and his papacy.
Seewald said Benedict replied: “From me? From me, not much more. I am an old man and my strength is running out. And I think what I have done is enough.”
Asked whether he was considering resignation, Seewald said that Benedict responded: “That depends to what extent my physical strength will compel me to.”
Benedict announced on Monday that he would resign Feb. 28, making him the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years.
The announcement stunned the world, but the pope had laid the groundwork for a possible resignation when Seewald interviewed him for his 2010 book, “Light of the World.”
“If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign,” the book quoted Benedict as saying. He stressed, however, that resignation was not an option to escape a particular burden, such as the scandal over sexual abuse by clerics.
In Saturday’s article, Seewald recalled asking the pope in August how badly the scandal over leaks of papal documents, in which the pope’s ex-butler was convicted of aggravated theft, had affected him.
It “is not as though I were somehow falling into a kind of desperation or world-weariness — it is simply incomprehensible to me,” Benedict said, according to Seewald.
Benedict said the affair had not thrown him off his stride or made him tired of his office, “because I think this can always happen,” Seewald added.
Meanwhile, the Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15 to 20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and that “this is a question that people are discussing.”
“It is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy” to move up the start of the conclave, he said.
The 15 to 20 day waiting period is in place to allow time for all cardinals who don’t live in Rome to arrive, under the usual circumstance of a pope dying. But in this case the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end Feb. 28 and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part in the conclave, Lombardi said.
The date of the conclave’s start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Palm Sunday Mass followed by Easter Sunday on March 31. In order to have a new pope in place in time for the most solemn liturgical period on the church calendar, he would need to be installed by Sunday, March 17, because of the strong tradition to hold installation Mass on a Sunday. Given the tight time frame, speculation has mounted that some arrangement would be made to start the conclave earlier than a strict reading of the law would allow.
Questions about the start of the conclave have swirled since Benedict stunned the world by announcing that he would retire. His decision has created a host of questions about how the Vatican will proceed, given that its plans for the so-called “sede vacante” — or vacant seat — period between papacies are based on the process starting with a papal death.
“In this moment we are not prepared,” said Cardinal Franc Rode, the former head of the Vatican’s office for religious orders who will vote in the conclave. “We have not been able to make predictions, strategies, plans, candidates. It is too early, but we will get there. In two or three weeks things will be put in place.”
Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan and a leading contender to succeed Benedict, said several of the visiting bishops noted at the end of their audience that they were the last group of bishops to be received by the pope. “‘This responsibility means you have to become a light for all,'” he quoted Benedict as saying.
Lombardi also gave more details about Benedict’s final public audiences and plans for retirement, saying already 35,000 people had requested tickets for his final general audience to be held in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 27.
He said Benedict would spend about two months in the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome immediately after his abdication, to allow enough time for renovations to be completed on his retirement home — a converted monastery inside the Vatican walls.
That means Benedict would be expected to return to the Vatican, no longer as pope, around the end of April or beginning of May, Lombardi said.
He was asked if and when the pope would meet with his successor and whether he would participate in his installation Mass. Like many open questions about the end of Benedict’s papacy, Lombardi said, both issues simply haven’t been resolved.