Pope Francis, who remains hospitalized in guarded condition after a setback Saturday, remains the leader of the Catholic church until the time of his death, Father Gerald Murray, the pastor of Saint Joseph’s Church in New York City, said on Newsmax Saturday. 

“There’s no provision for passing on authority, as would the president and the vice president, for instance, as in the U.S., during a temporary illness,” Murray told Newsmax’s “Wake Up America Weekend.” “We [will] just wait and see if the pope is able to gain his strength and recover.”

Pope Francis was resting Saturday after doctors needed to put him on noninvasive mechanical ventilation after a coughing episode, during which he inhaled vomit that had to be extracted. 

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