When Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign in 600 years it sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church. Now, after spending two weeks in hospital battling pneumonia, the speculation in the Vatican is whether his successor Pope Francis might do the same.

Pope Francis has entered his fourth week in the hospital with double pneumonia. Francis has increasingly handed off his day-to-day duties to cardinals as questions swirl about the near- and long-term future of his papacy.

Gandhi’s Scant Garb Bars Audience with Pope.” So read the headline of a New York Times report, from December 13, 1931, that the Vatican had cancelled a meeting between Pius XI and “the Indian nationalist leader” because the Pope thought he might be criticized “if he received the visitor in his usual scanty clothing.

"The night was quiet, the pope was resting," the Holy See, the Vatican's press office, said in a brief statement on Sunday morning.