Francis fuels speculation on future after praising pope who quit
POPE FRANCIS has praised one of his predecessors for taking the “humble” decision to resign, during a highly anticipated engagement.
The Argentine pontiff rebutted criticism of Celestine V, a monk who ruled the Roman Catholic Church for just five months in 1294, recalling that Dante labelled him a coward for his “Great Refusal” in The Divine Comedy.
“The humble appear to the eyes of men as weak and losers, but in reality they are the true winners because they are the only ones who trust completely in the Lord and know his will,” the Pope said yesterday.
“Humility doesn’t consist in devaluing oneself but rather in that healthy realism that makes us recognise our potential and also our misery.”
He praised Celestine V, who left the Church to return to his life as a hermit, as a “courageous witness of the Gospel” because “no logic of power was able to imprison or manage him”.
The 85-year-old delivered his homily in L’aquila, the burial site of Celestine, from a wheelchair, owing to knee pain that makes it hard for him to walk.
He visited for the annual “feast of forgiveness” and to pray by Celestine V’s tomb. He made the trip just a day after nominating 20 new cardinals, an unusual step at this time of year as the Vatican typically winds down over the summer. The unseasonable bout of activity, and the symbolism of a pilgrimage honouring one of the few popes in history who resigned, left commentators wondering whether the pontiff might use the occasion to announce his own resignation.
Since the trip to L’aquila was announced in June, the Pope has said that while he is not actively thinking about stepping down he would leave his position if poor health forced him to.
Francis I was elected in 2013, following Benedict XVI’S resignation – the first in almost 600 years. At the time, the decision was a shock for Roman Catholics worldwide, but the incumbent Pope has praised his predecessor’s decision on several occasions, saying it set an example.
“I think at my age and with these limitations, I have to save [my energy] to be able to serve the church, or on the contrary, think about the possibility of stepping aside,” Pope Francis said last month on the way back from Canada. A papal resignation “is not a catastrophe. You can change the pope,” he added.
At the start of the visit, the Pope met relatives of the victims of an earthquake that killed 309 people in L’aquila in 2009 and, donning a firefighter’s helmet, toured the city’s cathedral, which is under repair.
The Pope has a packed upcoming agenda, including a trip to Kazakhstan next month for a summit of world religious leaders.