Is the Pope planning to quit?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 21 June 2022
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The ailing pontiff has prompted speculation that he will resign with a planned visit to the tomb of a 13th-century pope who quit after five months.
Meanwhile, his remarks about foes plotting his replacement have some observers wondering who is wielding the knife — or the lead piping…
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Guest: Tom Kington, Italy correspondent, The Times.
Host: Jenny Kleeman.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Vatican City has always been a hotbed of gossip and intrigue, but some of the Pope's recent |
| 0:15.8 | comments have left Vatican Watchers playing real-life cludo. |
| 0:20.2 | Pope Francis is making waves in the Catholic Church and not everyone is happy about it. |
| 0:27.2 | There were growing number of people in the Vatican who were thinking, |
| 0:31.4 | yeah, he's on his way out the door and good riddance. |
| 0:36.8 | Now the rumor mill has gone into overdrive. |
| 0:41.5 | A new announcement from Pope Francis is starting to add fuel to the rumors that he will soon |
| 0:46.2 | step down from his position. Only four popes in the last 1,000 years have ever retired. |
| 0:53.0 | He has been quoted as saying patience. |
| 0:59.5 | And what about the other Pope, just over Francis's shoulder? |
| 1:03.4 | Pope Francis leaving the Vatican by helicopter to visit the man he replaced, Pope Benedict. |
| 1:08.3 | Two living popes together for the first time in hundreds of years. |
| 1:12.0 | It would be natural if to every now and then ask him for some kind of advice. |
| 1:16.5 | However, I have a feeling that Francis is going to go his own way on things. |
| 1:20.5 | You're listening to stories of our times from the times and the Sunday times. |
| 1:26.0 | I'm Jenny Cleaman. Today, will the Pope resign? |
| 1:42.0 | I am Tom Kington. I am the Times newspapers correspondent in Italy. |
| 1:48.0 | And being the Italy correspondent for the Times, it means you're also the Vatican correspondent. |
| 1:54.4 | What's that like? |
| 1:56.1 | Well, I spend a lot of my time covering politics, culture, you name it in Rome, |
| 2:02.7 | and then I will pop across the Tiber River to do a story on the Vatican. |
| 2:09.9 | Which takes you into a different world. The Vatican is a city state, so effectively I cover two |
... |
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