The president of the German Bishops' Conference, Bishop Karl Lehmann of Mainz, yesterday emphatically denied that he had called on Pope John Paul II to resign.
In a communique, Bishop Lehmann suggested that comments made by him in an interview with the Berlin radio, Deutschlandfunk, on Sunday had been completely misunderstood.
"In no way did I call on John Paul II to resign. On the contrary, I even pointed out how the Holy Father has been full of spiritual vigour and presence both in recent months and now at the beginning of the Holy Year", he said.
Bishop Lehmann's communique goes on to state that, rather than call on John Paul to resign, he had merely pointed out that "were this Pope no longer capable of leading the church in a responsible manner, he of all popes would have the necessary strength and courage to take the right decisions".
The German bishop's remarks had prompted the German news agency, DPA, to report on Sunday that he was calling for a "strong man" to lead the Catholic Church, while DPA also argued that Bishop Lehmann was the first senior church figure to talk openly about the possible resignation of Pope John Paul II.
Despite the fact that no pope has resigned since Gregory XII in 1415, media speculation, fuelled by TV images of the obviously frail John Paul, has been recurrent in recent years.
Such speculation, however, has been dismissed by the Pope himself who, on more than one occasion, has stated he will remain on the seat of Peter "until such time as God decides".
Yesterday a senior Curia figure told The Irish Times that Bishop Lehmann's remarks had probably been misunderstood while going on to dismiss speculation about the Pope's resignation.
"Anyone who knows this Pope knows that such an action is not in his nature.
"This Pope is going to go out with his boots on," the Curia source said.
The Pope himself yesterday appeared to indirectly reply to the speculation when addressing ambassadors from over 170 countries in his traditional January address to the Vatican diplomatic corps.
"I feel that I have been entrusted with a universal paternity that reaches out to all men and women of this age, without distinction," he said.
"God does not call on us to do anything that is beyond our strength.
"And it is He who gives us the strength to do that which is expected of us."
In that same speech, reflecting on the wars and genocides that marked much of the 20th century, the Pope called for the next century to be one of "solidarity" and "responsibility" in which technological progress went hand in hand with respect for fundamental human rights and in which the prevention of wars was allied to dialogue between diverse races and religions.