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Pope adds to retiral rumours

POPE Francis fuelled rumours about the future of his pontificate by announcing that he is to visit the central Italian city of L’Aquila in August for a feast initiated by Pope Celestine V, one of the few pontiffs who resigned before Pope Benedict XVI stepped down in 2013.

Italian and Catholic media have been rife with unsourced speculation that the 85-year-old might be planning to step down, given the increased mobility problems that forced him to use a wheelchair for the last month.

Those rumours gathered pace last week when Francis announced a consistory to create 21 new cardinals scheduled for August 27 – 16 of which would be eligible to vote for a successor.

Once they are added to the ranks of princes of the church, Francis will have filled the College of Cardinals with 83 of the 132 voting-age cardinals. While there is no guarantee how they might vote, the chances that they will tap a successor who shares Francis’s pastoral priorities is likely.

However, these rumours remain speculative. Francis recently arranged a major meeting for 2023, and his adviser said talks of his papal resignation were unfounded “optical illusions”.

In announcing the August 27 consistory, Francis also said he would host two days of talks the following week to brief the cardinals about his recent apostolic constitution reforming the Vatican bureaucracy.

That document, which came into effect yesterday, allows women to head Vatican offices, imposes term limits on priestly Vatican employees and positions the Holy See as an institution at the service of local churches, rather than vice versa.