* Rules may be “interpreted” so can start earlier
* Journalist who met pope saw alarming health deterioration
* Vatican says pope “not abandoning Church” in difficulty
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) – The conclave to choose Pope
Benedict’s successor could start earlier than expected, giving
the Roman Catholic Church a new leader by mid March, the Vatican
said on Saturday.
Less than two weeks away from a historic papal resignation,
the Vatican also stressed again that the pope was not abandoning
the Church in times of difficulties and urged the faithful to
trust in God and in the next pope.
Five days after Benedict announced his resignation in Latin
to a small group of cardinals, the Vatican was still in a state
of spiritual and bureaucratic shock, groping for ways to deal
with a situation without precedent for at least six centuries.
Some 117 cardinals under the age of 80 will be eligible to
enter the secretive conclave to elect Benedict’s successor.
Church rules say the conclave has to start between 15-20 days
after the papacy becomes vacant, which it will on Feb. 28.
But since the Church is now dealing with an announced
resignation and not a sudden death, Vatican spokesman Federico
Lombardi said the Vatican would be “interpreting” the law to see
if it could start earlier.
Cardinals around the world have already begun informal
consultations by phone and email to construct a profile of the
man they think would be best suited to lead the Church in a
period of continuing crisis.
The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected
and then formally installed in a solemn ceremony before Palm
Sunday on March 24 so he can preside at Holy Week services
leading to Easter.
The 85-year-old Benedict was having as normal a Saturday as
possible, considering that his remaining scheduled public
appearances can now be counted on one hand.
The Vatican has been at pains to stress that the pope was
leaving exclusively because of diminishing spiritual and
physical forces and that the pontiff was certain it was the
right thing to do and would not hurt the Church.
“Benedict is not abandoning us in times of difficulty,”
Lombardi said in his weekly editorial for Vatican Radio. “With
confidence, he is inviting the Church to trust in the Spirit and
in a new successor of St. Peter.”
DETERIORATING HEALTH
Benedict’s papacy was rocked by crises over sex abuse of
children by priests in Europe and the United States, most of
which preceded his time in office but came to light during it.
His reign also saw Muslim anger after he compared Islam to
violence. Jews were upset over his rehabilitation of a Holocaust
denier. During a scandal over the Church’s business dealings,
his butler was convicted of leaking his private papers.
Meanwhile, new details emerged on Saturday about the state
of Benedict’s health in the months before his shock decision.
Peter Seewald, a German journalist who wrote a book with the
pope in 2010 in which Benedict first floated the possibility of
resigning, visited him again about 10 weeks ago and asked what
else could be expected from his papacy.
According to excepts published in the German magazine Focus,
the pope answered: “From me? Not much from me. I’m an old man
and the strength is ebbing. I think what I’ve done is enough.”
Asked if he was considering resigning, the pope said: “That
depends on how much my physical strength will force me to that”.
Seewald said he was alarmed about the pope’s health.
“His hearing had deteriorated. He couldn’t see with his left
eye. His body had become so thin that the tailors had difficulty
in keeping up with newly fitted clothes … I’d never seen him
so exhausted-looking, so worn down.”
Keeping to his schedule, Benedict met a group of Italian
bishops and Guatemala’s president on Saturday morning and in the
afternoon was receiving caretaker Italian Prime Minister Mario
Monti in a farewell audience.
Monti, a devout Catholic, is leading a centrist coalition in
next week’s elections but the Vatican says the farewell meeting
has nothing to do with the vote.
On Sunday, the pope will hold his customary noon blessing
from his window overlooking St Peter’s Square before going into
a previously scheduled, week-long Lenten spiritual retreat. He
will emerge from that on Feb 23.
He will then say one more Sunday noon prayer on Feb. 24,
hold a final general audience on Feb. 27. The next day he will
take a helicopter to the papal summer retreat at Castel
Gandolfo, south of Rome, flying into the history books.
Vatican officials said he would stay there for the two
months or so needed to restore the convent inside the Vatican
where he will live out his remaining years.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Additional reporting by Erik
Kirschbaum, James Mackenzie and Tom Heneghan; Editing by Robin
Pomeroy)
