VATICAN CITY, Feb 8 (AFP) - In the long and tumultous history of the papacy, only a handful of reigns have ended in abdication or deposition, but this hasn't prevented speculation about the possible resignation of Pope John Paul II.
The increasing physical incapacity of Pope John Paul II, who is recovering from a severe respiratory infection, is prompting questions about his ability to continue leading the Roman Catholic church.
The speculation intensified after Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state, when asked about the possibility, replied that resignation was a matter for the pope's conscience, rather than rejecting the idea out of hand.
At most, there have probably been only five papal abdications since the beginning of the Church, but numerous popes were deposed or exiled, 21 popes are listed as martyrs and nine others are presumed martyrs. Four popes died in exile or in prison, six were assassinated, two died of wounds received in the course of riots and one was killed when a roof collapsed.
The last time a pope resigned was in the early 15th century at a time when three men claimed to be pontiff -- John XXIII, Benedict XIII and Gregory XII, a saintly prelate who is accepted as being the real pope.
After decades of sometimes scandalous brawling and violent discussion, a Church council held on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, at Constance, deposed John XXIII in 1414, declared the Spaniard Benedict XIII to be an anti-pope and accepted the resignation of Gregory II.
In 1417, the council elected the Roman aristocrat Odo Colonna to the papacy. He took the title of Martin V.
Gregory became the cardinal archibishop of Porto and died a couple of years later. The title of John XXIII was revised in the 20th century by Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, popularly known as "the good pope."
Before that, Celestine V, a simple hermit who was elected to end a deadlock among cardinals, proved incompetent and resigned in 1294 after reigning a mere five months.
Benedict IX, who is reputed to have been one of the most disgraceful popes in history, departed in 1045 with a large payoff from his rival John Gratian, who reigned as Sylvester III. In fact this was a factional fight in Rome, which the Holy Roman Emperor ended by engineering the election of a German pope, Clement II.
His successor, Boniface VIII, had it specifically written into Church law, apparently for the first time, that a pope could freely resign, a position that is still accepted today.
Several popes were resigned or martyred as the Roman Empire collapsed, and the eternal city -- sacked and depopulated by barbarian hordes -- fell prey to quarreling factions. But the historical details of how they fell are often lost in the mist of time, and often only the legends remain.
02/08/2005 17:53 GMT - AFP