Papal biographer and former Director for Public Affairs of the previous Archbishop of Westminster, Austen Ivereigh says that there is no doubt Pope Francis rumored will be stepping down from the papacy in 2020, following the lead of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, The Daily Express reported.

Ivereigh said, “I don’t think there’s ever been any doubt that he will resign in 2020.

“He made clear from the beginning that he regarded Pope Benedict’s (XVI) act as a prophetic act of great modesty and he would have absolutely no problem in doing the same.

“What was interesting was he said to Mexican television in 2014 that he believed that he would have a short papacy of about five years.

“What I’m hearing now from people close to him is that he’s going to need seven years to achieve his five-year plan and that, of course, would mean staying on until 2020.”

There has been no official word from Pope Francis on if he plans on stepping down.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has called for the resignation of Pope Francis as early as 2018 “to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up [defrocked Cardinal Theodore] McCarrick’s abuses.”

Taylor Marshall discusses the prospects here:

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