Cardinal wary over pope resignation

[March 01, 2013]  VATICAN CITY (AP) -- An Australian cardinal says he hopes Pope Benedict XVI's resignation doesn't create a precedent, because the Roman Catholic church doesn't need "the successor of Peter popping in and out."

Cardinal George Pell told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that "I hope we don't move to a succession of popes who resign quickly."

Pell was expanding on an earlier statement that Benedict's decision to resign was "slightly destabilizing."

Despite his worry about the impact of the resignation, Pell said that "you only have to look at him (Benedict) to see how sick he looks. He has deteriorated even in the last couple of months."

In a separate interview, Cardinal Timothy Doland of New York said Thursday that Pell probably meant the resignation "kind of shook us."

[Associated Press]

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