A weak Pope Francis is wielding power and rewriting the narrative of how popes exercise authority

VATICAN CITY (AP) — During his first foreign trip in 2013, Pope Francis made headlines when he carried his own black leather briefcase as he boarded the Alitalia charter bound for Brazil, since popes never carry bags and until the 1970s were themselves carried on thrones.

Asked what was in the bag, Francis joked that it wasn’t the nuclear codes. But he seemed baffled that something as normal as an airplane passenger carrying a briefcase could create such a fuss.

“I have always taken a bag with me when traveling – it’s normal,” he told his first news conference as pope. “We must get used to being normal. The normality of life.”

Over 12 years, Francis has sought to impose a kind of normality on the papacy with his informal style and disdain for pomp, while ensuring that he still wields the awesome power held by Christ’s vicar on Earth and Europe’s last absolute monarch.

The way Francis has managed his five-week hospitalization for pneumonia has followed that same playbook, and on Saturday allowed his doctors to announce the very normal news that the 88-year-old pope would be released the following day.

At a news conference, they said he would need two months of rest and convalescence at the Vatican, but that he eventually could resume all his normal activity running the 1.3.-billion strong Catholic Church.

But he had never stopped. In between respiratory crises, prayer and physiotherapy, Francis appointed over a dozen bishops, approved a handful of new saints, authorized a three-year extension of his signature reform process and sent off messages public and private. Vatican cardinals stood in for him at events requiring his presence.

That’s not as easy a balancing act as it sounds, since there are few positions of power that are both as absolute as the papacy and, during times of illness, as seemingly fragile: According to the church's canon law, the pope possesses “supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the church." He answers to no one but God, and there is no appeal of his decisions.

And while popes aren’t subject to re-election campaigns or no-confidence votes, they essentially owe their jobs to the 120 men who elected them. While those same cardinals swear obedience to the pope, they will also eventually choose his successor from within their own ranks. It's no surprise then that talk of conclaves, papal contenders and challenges facing a future pope has been a constant buzz in Rome ever since Francis was admitted to Gemelli hospital Feb. 14.

Francis is well aware that anytime he gets sick, plotting intensifies for the election of the next pope, contributing to a certain lame duck status as he ages. “Some wanted me dead,” he said after his 2021 hospitalization, when he learned that secret meetings had already been held to plan the conclave. He knows as well that even before his current hospitalization, an anonymous cardinal had circulated a seven-point memo listing priorities for the next pope to correct the “confusion, division and conflict” sowed by Francis.

And yet Francis has never been shy about showing his weaknesses, age or infirmities in ways that seem unthinkable for public figures for whom any sign of fragility can threaten their authority and undermine their agenda.

Additionally, within months of being elected, Francis reached out to an Argentine doctor and journalist, Dr. Nelson Castro, and suggested he write a book about the health of popes, himself included.

“My hypothesis is that he wanted first of all to show himself as a human being,” Castro said in an interview. “We tend to see popes like saints, but the way he talked about his diseases showed me, ‘I’m like you and me, being exposed to diseases.’”

Francis had read and appreciated Castro’s earlier book, “The Sickness of Power,” about the ailments that have afflicted Argentina’s leaders and how power itself had afflicted them. He invited Castro to research and write about past popes and his own case in a similar, not-terribly-flattering light.

“The Health of Popes” was published in 2021. Castro said what struck him most was that Francis disclosed not only his physical ailments, but his mental health challenges too: Francis revealed that he had gone to a psychiatrist when he was the Jesuit provincial during Argentina’s military dictatorship in the 1970s to help him cope with fear and anxiety.

“Pope Francis is a man of power,” Castro said. “Only a man of power, feeling quite sure of himself, would dare to talk about his diseases so openly.”

For the Rev. John Cecero, Jesuit provincial for the northeast United States from 2014-2020, Francis’ willingness to show his weaknesses while exercising supreme authority is consistent with his Jesuit training and the biblical teaching of St. Paul that “when I am weak, then I am strong.”

“A chief virtue on the part of everyone in the practice of Jesuit authority is humility," Cecero said in an interview. "On the part of the individual Jesuit (that means) thinking beyond my own self-interest to the common good.”

“I know it’s something that drives Francis: that you have that same humility,” he said.

And yet Francis’ critics often complain that he’s authoritarian, that he takes decisions in a vacuum and without regard to the law, and wields power like a “Dictator Pope,” the title of a book written by a traditionalist critic early in Francis’ papacy.

Many recite the joke about the way Jesuit superiors exercise power, which is supposed to be a process of joint discernment between the superior and the underling but, the joke goes, can be anything but: “I discern, you discern, we discern … I decide.”

Those same conservative critics, of course, have been keenly watching Francis’ hospitalization and wondering if the end of his papacy is near.

Even if he is absent, and even if he has to cut back his public activities going forward, Francis is very much still in power and leading the church, said Kurt Martens, a canon lawyer at Catholic University of America.

“We’re used to seeing a pope who is everywhere all the time," he said. "But don't forget that in the past, not that long ago, popes would show up only rarely.”

Francis' disappearance from public view has led some to doubt the authenticity of the first, and so far only photograph of Francis released by the Vatican since his hospitalization. It was shot from behind and showed Francis at prayer in his private hospital chapel, his face hidden.

Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference, said the photo was not only real but showed Francis controlling the image that he wants the faithful to have of the papacy and illness. Francis wants viewers to focus not on the spectacle of a sick pope, but on what should actually matter more to a Catholic anyway.

“If we cannot see his face ... what we must look at is precisely what he himself is facing: the altar and the crucifix,” Avvenire wrote.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2015 file photo, Pope Francis carries his coat and documents as he leaves after a morning session of the last day of the Synod of bishops, at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)

FILE -- Canon lawyer and professor at Catholic University of America in Washington DC, Kurt Martens talks with The Associated Press near St. Peter's Square in Rome, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2015 file photo, Pope Francis, left, talks to Cardinal Tarciso Bertone as they sit on a bus at the end of a week of Lenten spiritual retreat in Ariccia, in the hills overlooking Rome. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, Pool)

FILE - In this March 17, 2013 file photo, Pope Francis, center left, waves to faithful by making an impromptu appearance to the public from a side gate of the Vatican, startling passersby and prompting cheers, at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Antonello Nusca, file)

FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2015 file photo, Pope Francis tries on a pair of spectacles in an eyeglass store in via del Babuino, in central Rome. (Daniel Soehne via AP, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2015 file photo, Pope Francis arrives in his car for a visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (Eric Thayer/Pool Photo via AP, files)

FILE-- This picture released by the Vatican Press Office shows Pope Francis concelebrating a mass inside his private chapel at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome on Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Vatican Press Office, Via AP, File )

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2015 file photo, Pope Francis shakes hands with a Vatican Swiss guard as he leaves after a morning session of the Synod of bishops, at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)

FILE - In this May 12, 2017 file photo, Pope Francis holds his bag and waves as he embarks his flight to Monte Real, Portugal, from Rome's International airport of Leonardo Da Vinci, in Fiumicino, Italy. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney lamented Canada’s lost friendship with the United States as he visited the town that sheltered thousands of stranded American airline passengers after the 9/11 attacks.

Carney's visit Monday to Gander, Newfoundland on the second day of a national election campaign comes against the backdrop of a trade war and sovereignty threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump’s almost daily attacks on Canada’s sovereignty have left Canadians feeling betrayed.

"In this crisis caused by the U.S. president and those who are enabling him, we lament a friendship lost," Carney said. “In Gander Canadians did extraordinary things for Americans when they needed it. Now, we need to do extraordinary things for ourselves.”

Gander opened its arms to nearly 6,600 airline passengers diverted there when the U.S. government shut down airspace during 9/11.

In a matter of a few hours, the town population of 10,000 in 2001 was overwhelmed by 38 planeloads of travelers, yet locals went to work in their kitchens and cleaned up spare rooms to offer space and food to the newcomers.

When more than 200 flights were diverted to Canada following the attacks on the United States, the Canadians shunted the traffic away from Toronto and Montreal to the eastern seaboard.

Obscure, little-used Gander got to relive its glory days as a stopover point for trans-Atlantic aviation before long-distance flights became possible. Built in 1938 in anticipation of the coming world war, it had the world’s longest runway, and on 9/11 it was the second busiest, taking in 38 flights to Halifax, Nova Scotia’s 47.

Flight crews quickly filled Gander’s hotels, so passengers were taken to schools, fire stations, church halls. The Canadian military flew in 5,000 cots. Stores donated blankets, coffee machines, barbecue grills. Unable to retrieve their luggage, passengers became dependent on the kindness of strangers, and it came in the shape of clothes, showers, toys, banks of phones to call home free of charge, an arena that became a giant walk-in fridge full of donated food.

Once all the planes had landed or turned back to Europe, Gander’s air traffic controllers switched to cooking meals in the building nonstop for three days.

On Monday, Carney visited the home of Beulah Cooper, who opened her home and comforted many including Dennis and Hannah O’Rourke, an elderly couple whose New York firefighter son, Kevin, went missing at the World Trade Center and was later confirmed to have died there.

The O’Rourkes remained friends with Cooper long after and went back to Gander, saying they felt eternally indebted.

“More than 6,000 passengers. Overnight, the town’s population almost doubled," Carney said during a speech to residents. “You showed friendship to people who were fearful. In a crisis, you showed your character. When people needed help, you gave it."

Carney noted the story of that day became legend, immortalized in the Canadian-made Broadway hit musical “Come from Away.”

“It became yet another example of the unbreakable bond between Canadians and Americans. Because when Americans are in need, Canadians have always shown up,” Carney said.

Carney noted Canadians have always been by Americans' side whether it was during the Iranian hostage crisis, or more recently during the California wildfires or in Afghanistan, where Canada lost 158 members of the armed forces and seven civilians.

Trump has declared a trade war on his northern neighbor and continues to call for Canada to become the 51st state, a position that has infuriated Canadians. The American president has threatened economic coercion in his annexation threats and suggested the border is a fictional line.

Trump put 25% tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as all of America’s trading partners — on April 2.

Carney said Canadians are over the shock of the betrayal but now have to look out for themselves. He said Canadians and Americans have been traditionally been like brothers.

"But that’s changed. And it wasn’t us who did the changing. Unfortunately, President Trump’s actions have put that kinship under greater strain today than at any point in our storied history,” Carney said.

Carney and his Conservative opponent, Pierre Poilievre, said Trump must respect Canada’s sovereignty as they kicked off their election campaigns on Sunday. Carney announced a five-week election campaign before the vote on April 28.

Carney still hasn’t had a phone call with Trump and suggested that might not happen until after the election. “I’m available for a call. But you know we are going to talk on our terms as a sovereign country, not as what he pretends we are,” Carney said.

He said the Americans are making a “fundamental mistake" in the trade war.

“They think they will weaken us. They think that they can own us quite frankly, that’s what they think,” he said. “We are going to get stronger. We are going to wait this out. They are going to come to the table and we are going to negotiate a good deal for Canadians.”

Canada Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet launches his campaign with candidates in front of the U.S. consulate in Quebec City on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre appears at a federal election campaign event in Brampton, Ontario, on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Liberal Leader Mark Carney arrives in Gander, Newfoundland, on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, center, walks with candidate Caroline Desbiuens, right, to a news conference with candidates in Quebec City Monday, March 24, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is joined by his wife Anaida Poilievre and children Cruz and Valentina, as he talks with employees at Kruger Packaging during a federal election campaign event in Brampton, Ontario, on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Liberal Leader Mark Carney arrives in Gander, Newfoundland, on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada NDP leader Jagmeet Singh hits the punching bag in an outdoor gym under a bridge after a campaign event during a federal election stop in Montreal on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre talks with employees at Kruger Packaging during a federal election campaign event in Brampton, Ontario, on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, right, laughs in the snow with his campaign wagon master Laura Ziemba, centre, after a event with supporters during a federal election campaign stop in Montreal on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, right, reacts with MP candidate Nima Machouf, left, as he attends a campaign event with supporters during a federal election campaign stop in Montreal on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney looks through a photo album with Beulah Cooper at her home in Gander, Newfoundland, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Liberal Leader Mark Carney arrives in Gander, N.L., on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet launches his campaign with candidates in front of the USA consulate in Quebec City Monday, March 24, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney gets a hug from Beulah Cooper as he arrives at her house in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)