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By\u00a0JAMES REYNOLDS FOR MAILONLIN<\/p>\n
In an address on Sunday,\u00a0Pope Francis<\/a><\/span>\u00a0added to growing rumours he might abdicate from the position with a sermon on the ‘virtue of stepping aside at the right time’.<\/p>\n Pope Francis previously\u00a0stated\u00a0<\/a>he would step down from the role if his health deteriorated but has\u00a0dismissed\u00a0<\/a>general speculation, otherwise fuelled by apparent conflict within the church.<\/p>\n During the Sunday Angelus, a Catholic prayer the Pope often leads on Sundays and holy days, the Pontiff\u00a0said<\/a>: ‘It is easy to become attached to roles and positions, to the need to be esteemed, recognised and rewarded.’<\/p>\n He continued: ‘It is good for us too to cultivate, like [Saint] John [the Baptist], the virtue of setting ourselves aside at the right moment, bearing witness that the point of reference of life is Jesus.<\/p>\n ‘To step aside, to learn to take one\u2019s leave: I have completed this mission, I have had this meeting, I will step aside and leave room to the Lord. To learn to step aside, not to take something for ourselves in recompense.’<\/p>\n