In the news · Church questions
Can a pope resign? What Church law says, and what happens if a pope is too ill to lead
Yes, a pope can resign. The Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law says that if the Roman Pontiff resigns, the resignation is valid when it is “made freely and properly manifested,” and that no one has to accept it (canon 332 §2). It has happened only a handful of times, most recently when Benedict XVI stepped down in 2013 because, he said, he no longer had the strength of mind and body the office needs. The question is in the news because Pope Leo XIV, who is 71, had part of his right lung removed on October 13, 2026, and the Vatican confirmed lung cancer; outlets including the Associated Press have since written about the uncertain future of his pontificate. The Vatican has said nothing about resignation: on October 15 it reported that his recovery was “progressing normally” and that he had resumed some work from hospital. This page explains what Church law actually provides, the popes who resigned, what happens when a pope is too ill to govern, the Scripture behind the office, and how other churches see the question.
Why the question is being asked now
On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, surgeons at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital removed the lower lobe of Pope Leo XIV’s right lung, and the Holy See Press Office said an examination during the operation confirmed lung adenocarcinoma. On Thursday, October 15, Vatican News reported his doctors’ statement that a chest X-ray showed “good recovery of the lung that underwent surgery” and that his recovery was “progressing normally.” The Press Office said he concelebrated Mass that morning in a room prepared on the hospital’s tenth floor, and that in the afternoon he met Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, the Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State. Vatican News had reported on October 12 that his audiences were cancelled through October 20.
The Associated Press (Nicole Winfield, October 15) reported that many had hoped a younger, healthier pope could lead the Church for a long time, and that the diagnosis “has thrown a question mark into that scenario and his pontificate.” It noted that Leo was 69 when elected in 2025, quoted the Villanova theologian Massimo Faggioli calling the news “a big question mark on the investment that many people have made on this pontificate,” and reported that Peru’s president had suggested Leo’s planned Latin America trip may have to change. Reuters and CNN ran similar analyses on October 14. None of these reports says the Pope intends to resign, and this page does not suggest that he does. It answers the question people are asking.
What Church law says
The rule is one sentence. Canon 332 §2 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law reads: “If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone.” The 1917 Code likewise said that no acceptance was needed (canon 221). Two conditions follow. The decision must be free, so a resignation forced on a pope would not be valid. And it must be made known in a proper way, as Benedict XVI did by reading a formal declaration in Latin. No one has to accept it, because in Catholic teaching no authority on earth stands above the Pope to do so.
There is no retirement age for a pope. A Catholic diocesan bishop who reaches 75 is asked to offer his resignation to the Pope (canon 401 §1), but the Bishop of Rome has no one above him to receive such a request, so whether to step down is his own decision alone.
The popes who resigned
Celestine V (1294). A hermit when he was elected, he resigned on December 13, 1294, after about five months. Shortly before, he issued a decree declaring that a pope may resign, which settled doubts among canon lawyers about whether a pope could. He was later canonised.
Gregory XII (1415). He resigned on July 4, 1415, to end the Western Schism, when three men were claiming to be pope. He first formally convened the Council of Constance, which was already meeting, and authorised it to elect his successor.
Benedict XVI (2013). On February 11, 2013, the 85-year-old pope announced his resignation to a meeting of cardinals. In his declaration, dated February 10, he said that “in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary,” and that this strength had “deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity.” The See of Rome became vacant at 8 p.m. on February 28, 2013. He took the title pope emeritus and lived in the Vatican until his death on December 31, 2022.
Others prepared for the possibility without using it. Paul VI wrote a letter dated May 2, 1965, published in 2018, offering to renounce the office in case of incurable or long-lasting illness. Pope Francis told the Spanish newspaper ABC, in an interview published on December 18, 2022, that early in his pontificate he had signed a resignation letter and given it to the then Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, saying, “If I should become impaired for medical reasons or whatever, here is my resignation.” He never used it, and he died in office in 2025. Most popes, including John Paul II through years of illness, have governed until death.
What happens if a pope is too ill to lead
Here Church law is almost silent. Canon 335 says only that when the Roman See is “vacant or entirely impeded, nothing is to be altered in the governance of the universal Church,” and that special laws for those circumstances are to be observed. The Code does not say who would decide that a pope is “entirely impeded,” for example by a coma, and it gives no procedure for removing a pope who cannot govern. That gap helps explain why Paul VI and Francis wrote letters in advance: a resignation signed while a pope is well, for use if illness later prevents him from acting, is one way a pope can make the decision freely himself.
A short stay in hospital is nothing like that situation. While a pope recovers, the Roman Curia, the Vatican’s offices, keeps working under the Secretary of State and the heads of departments, and matters that need the Pope’s own decision wait for him. Leo is working from hospital, as the Vatican’s October 15 update shows.
What happens after a pope resigns
A resignation leaves the See of Rome vacant, exactly as a pope’s death does. John Paul II’s constitution on papal elections, Universi Dominici Gregis (1996), says its rules apply “even if the vacancy of the Apostolic See should occur as a result of the resignation of the Supreme Pontiff” (no. 77). The cardinals handle only ordinary business and matters that cannot be postponed; nothing that belongs to the Pope alone may be decided (nos. 1–2). The conclave normally begins fifteen full days after the vacancy and no later than twenty (no. 37, as amended in 2013 to allow an earlier start when all electors are present). Only cardinals under 80 vote, at most 120 of them (no. 33), and a candidate needs at least two thirds of the votes (no. 62).
“Feed my sheep”: the Scripture behind the office
The Bible does not mention popes, conclaves or resignation. Catholics root the papacy in Jesus’ words to Peter, “thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,” with the gift of “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:18–19), and in the risen Christ’s threefold charge to Peter by the Sea of Galilee. The same passage ends with a word about Peter growing old:
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.Read John 21 in context · King James Version →
The charge is to feed and tend, not to hold a title, and the passage pictures Peter in old age led “whither thou wouldest not.” Christians have read these verses in both directions. Some see in them a call to carry the office to the end, as John Paul II did; others see that the office exists for the flock, so that a shepherd who can no longer feed it may hand it on, which was Benedict XVI’s reasoning. Both readings are interpretation; the passage itself does not settle the question.
Scripture also shows leaders handing on their work. Moses, at 120, says “I can no more go out and come in” and presents Joshua as the one who will lead Israel across the Jordan (Deuteronomy 31:2–3), after asking God to set a man over the congregation “that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd” (Numbers 27:15–18). The apostles fill Judas’ place with Matthias, quoting the psalm “his bishoprick let another take” (Acts 1:20–26). Peter tells the elders to feed the flock “not by constraint, but willingly,” because the flock belongs to God and the “chief Shepherd” is Christ (1 Peter 5:1–4). And Paul, near the end, writes, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6–7), having learned that God’s “strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).
For a sick pope the first biblical response is the one the Church in Acts gave when Peter was in prison: “prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him” (Acts 12:5; see also James 5:14–15). See our prayer for Pope Leo XIV.
How other churches see it
Catholic. The Pope is the Bishop of Rome and Peter’s successor, and the office is held for life unless he freely resigns. Resignation is rare but lawful, and since 2013 it is no longer only a medieval memory. Catholic teaching holds that the Church does not depend on one man’s health: Christ is the chief Shepherd, and the papacy continues through each successor.
Orthodox. The Orthodox churches honour the Bishop of Rome historically as first among the ancient patriarchs but do not accept the Pope’s universal jurisdiction. Among themselves, bishops and patriarchs can, in some circumstances, step down, and each church’s synod or council chooses a successor; no single bishop stands above the rest as the Pope does in Catholic teaching.
Protestant and Anglican. Protestant churches reject the papacy’s claims of authority, so a pope’s resignation is for them a matter of interest, not obedience. In churches with bishops, retirement and resignation are ordinary; Church of England bishops, for example, must retire by age 70, with limited extensions, under the Ecclesiastical Offices (Age Limit) Measure 1975. Many Protestants nonetheless pray for Pope Leo as a sick fellow Christian and a public leader, following 1 Timothy 2:1–2.
These are summaries of each tradition’s position in general terms, not statements by any church about this news. This page reports only what the Vatican and named outlets have said, gives no medical information and makes no prediction about Pope Leo’s health or pontificate.