Pope Benedict XVI sits during a mass in Santiago de Cuba March
26, 2012. / Osservatore Romano, AFP/Getty Images Church law does
allow for a pope to resign - if he is of sound mind and not
forced out by fear or fraud. Under canon law, if a pope chooses
to resign, no one is allowed to tell him he can't. According to
the Vatican, John Paul II had secret letters, in 1989 and in
1994, offering to resign if he were too incapacitated to fulfill
his ministry. Pope Benedict said in Light of the World, a
collection of interviews with a German journalist, that a pope
should resign if he "clearly realizes that he is no longer
physically, psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling
the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some
circumstances, also an obligation to resign." But if it is
simply a staggering burden to be pope, Benedict said, "One must
stand fast and endure the situation. That is my view. One can
resign at a peaceful moment or when one simply cannot go on. But
one must not run away fro