Papal power not affected by pope's surgery
Pope Francis talks on the phone during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in mid-May. During the period between the end of one pontificate and the election of a new pope the camerlengo, or chamberlain, runs the administration and finances of the Holy See, but under canon law Pope Francis was still pope, fully in charge of running the Vatican and the 1.3-billion-strong Catholic Church, even while unconscious and undergoing surgery Wednesday, June 7, 2023, to repair a hernia in his abdominal wall.
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis' three-hour surgery Wednesday raised a question about what happens to papal power when a pope is unconscious or otherwise incapacitated and cannot lead the Catholic Church.
The answer: nothing...
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