THE senior cardinal who is running the Vatican in the absence of the Pope stunned Vatican-watchers yesterday by conceding for the first time that the visibly ailing pontiff might resign.

Asked whether the Pope, 84, should step down as his illness worsens, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State (Prime Minister), himself the Pope’s deputy and a potential successor, said that the decision should be “left to the conscience of the Pope”. He added: “We should have faith in him. If there is one man who knows what to do, it is he.”

It was the first time that a top Vatican figure had raised the possibility of resignation. Previous statements had insisted that the position was for life.

Cardinal Sodano, 77, a seasoned former diplomat from Piedmont who has been Secretary of State since 1990, has rarely stepped out of line. Although canon law provides for a pontiff to step down if incapacitated, no pope has voluntarily resigned since Celestine V at the end of the 13th century. The Pope has said repeatedly that he will never retire or resign, having asked: “Did Christ come down from the Cross?”

On Sunday an aide read a message from the Pope, saying: “In this hospital, in the middle of other sick people, I can continue to serve the Church and all humanity.” The comments were seen as a rebuff to those calling on him to resign.

However, asked if a Pope who was unable to speak could govern the Church, Cardinal Sodano said: “The Lord knows how the Pope guides his Church. We do not have to worry about it. The Lord is great.”

Vatican-watchers said that they were shocked by his comments. “I never, never expected to hear the Secretary of State talk about papal resignation,” one Vatican insider said. “Technically, Sodano is correct. The question, however, is why a man of his seniority should say this at such a highly sensitive moment.”

Marco Politi, the veteran Vatican-watcher and author who asked the question about resignation, said that he was astonished by the cardinal’s reply. “I expected him to deflect the question,” he said.

The Pope is said to have left a resignation letter with Cardinal Sodano and Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, the Papal Chamberlain, to be used if he becomes mentally incapacitated.

Cardinal Sodano, who will meet Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, in the Vatican today in place of the Pope, is regarded as a loyal deputy to the pontiff.

He has stood in frequently for the Pope at Masses and ceremonies in the past, Jostling for position among the cardinals has intensified since the Pope was taken to hospital with severe throat spasms a week ago after a bout of flu complicated by the effects of Parkinson’s disease. Cardinal Sodano is seen as a potential successor if cardinals at the next conclave decide that they want a “safe pair of hands”.

Cardinal Sodano said that he prayed that the Pope would have “a long life”.

The Vatican said yesterday that the Pope would remain at the Gemelli hospital for “a few more days, as a precaution”. Joaquín Navarro-Valls, the Pope’s spokesman, said that the pontiff had no fever, was eating regularly and has been sitting in an armchair every day for several hours.

He said the Pope had told him that he had been reading the newspapers “to see how my health is doing”.

The Pope’s latest illness forced him to cancel his first weekly audience for a year and a half and he will miss the Ash Wednesday service tomorrow for the first time since he was elected in 1978.

Corrado Manni, the Pope’s anaesthetist, said that “even if, as is certain, the Holy Father overcomes this crisis, there could be similar relapses in future”.

Dr Manni said that “unfortunately Parkinson’s cannot be cured — at the most, it can be slowed down. And this entails a series of risks, including those that we have seen in recent days.”

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