The pope says that some are already focusing on who might succeed him, which he says was “only human,” but he also warns that this kind of speculation can be motivated by personal gain or “for profit in the newspapers.”
Addressing criticism leveled against him during his more than 10 years as pontiff, the Argentinian pope acknowledges that he was hurt by those who claim that he is “destroying the papacy.” But he says that he would have to go to the psychologist once a week if he paid attention to all of the criticism, which he suggests is motivated by opposition to his desire to make the Church more pastoral and less monarchical.
The pope also writes that it has “pained” him to see Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 and lived in the Vatican as pope emeritus before passing away on Dec. 31, 2022, used against him for “ideological and political purposes” by “unscrupulous people who, not having accepted his resignation, have thought of their own gain and their own little garden to cultivate, underestimating the dramatic possibility of a fracture within the Church.”
In the new book, Pope Francis also defends arguably the most divisive move of his papacy: the Vatican’s recent controversial approval of blessings for same-sex couples. The pope said that the promulgation of Fiducia Supplicans confirms that “God loves everyone, especially sinners,” and that if some decide not to implement the guidance, as many bishops and some entire episcopal conferences have, “it does not mean that this is the antechamber of a schism, because the doctrine of the Church is not called into question.”
While the pope says that marriage between people of the same sex is not a possibility, he reiterates his approval of civil unions, stating that “it is right that these people who live the gift of love can have legal coverage like everyone else.”