‘In modern Christian Democracy, the Roman Catholic and Protestant lines of thought come together to form a common Christian understanding of a desirable society. Subsidiarity as one of the core principles in social teaching calls for a healthy society, where different vertical levels and horizontal spheres respect each other’s autonomy, even sovereignty, while at the same time bringing them into cooperation.’

Serving as the pope is one of the most demanding of any leadership position; at the same time, life expectancy is high, so the possibility of the resignation of a pope due to illness indeed comes to the fore.