The Roman Catholic Church should not have “leaders for life” in its ranks, otherwise it would risk being like a country under dictatorship, Pope Francis said on Friday.
Pope Francis who is now 78, said before that he would be ready to resign instead of ruling for life if he felt he could not continue running the 1.2 billion-member Church for health or other reasons.
Addressing 30,000 people at an inter-denominational rally of Christians in St. Peter’s Square, the pontiff stated that the only one who cannot be substituted in the church is the Holy Spirit.
He further said that there should be a time limit to positions in the church which should be of service in reality. He also made it clear that his comments were not confined to the clergy.
“It is convenient that all (positions) in the Church should have a time limit. There are no leaders for life in the Church. This occurs in some countries where a dictatorship exists.” Pope Francis said. Reuters reported.
