his visit to the tomb of the first pope to resign

The possibility that Francisco resigns the pontificate has gained strength this Sunday after the visit to the tomb of Celestine Vthe first pope to voluntarily relinquish the throne of Saint Peter more than six centuries ago, in 1294. This has fueled speculation after 20 new cardinals were sworn in this weekend.

Francis has not mentioned the subject of his resignation during the hours he has been in L’Aquila, the capital of the Italian region of Abruzzo. A town that is a hundred kilometers from Rome and to which the pontiff has arrived by helicopter from the Vatican. Once in the city, the Argentine Pope has toured the place sitting in a wheelchair accompanied by his assistants for when he needed to stand up.

This visit by the Pope has served to celebrate the feast of the forgiveness, which Celestino V himself created during the scarce four and a half months that his pontificate lasted. However, the city was largely destroyed by a 2009 earthquake that killed 305 people and is still being rebuilt.

[Francisco inquieta a la Iglesia sugiriendo su adiós: “Se puede cambiar de Papa, no es una catástrofe”]

In the mass given this Sunday before thousands of people in a square in this town, Francis pointed out that in the Divine Comedy Dante had ridiculed Celestino for his cowardice to abdicate his position, referring to the decision as “the Great Refusal.” However, Francisco has considered that by giving up power, Celestino had shown the “strength of humility”.

“In the eyes of men, the humble are seen as weak and losers, but in reality they are the true winners because they are the only ones who completely trust in the Lord and know his will. No logic of power was capable of imprisoning or managing it”, the Pope assured.

“Humility does not consist in devaluing oneself, but in that healthy realism that makes us recognize our potential and also our misery”, added the pontiff.

Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to resign voluntarily, visited L’Aquila four years before he resigned. In the past, Francis has also praised Benedict’s courage in stepping down.

The pope has dismissed rumors about whether he plans to resign anytime soon, but has also insisted the resignation must be an acceptable option for the pontiffs who feel they can no longer adequately lead the world’s more than 1.3 billion Catholics.

new cardinals

Pope Francis named 20 new cardinals last Saturday, but he has decided to take advantage of the occasion to also hold a meeting this coming Monday and Tuesday in which he has invited all the ‘cardiacs’ of the world to participate and in which winds of conclave blow being the first time that those who will elect the future pontiff will face each other.

[El Papa nombra nuevos cardenales que podrían elegir a su sucesor]

For the consistory, as the meeting of cardinals is called, the first to be held in the middle of August, the appointment of 21 new cardinals had been announced, but there will be 20 because the Belgian Lucas Van Looy decided not to accept the biretta and the cardinal’s ring.

Sixteen of the new cardinals will be eligible for election to the future conclave as Francis’ successor. Under Vatican rules he must be under 80 at the time of the vote, in case he resigns. These appointments mean that the pontiff has chosen 83 of the 132 cardinals to elect a new Popenearly two-thirds of the total, and is the percentage needed for any proposed name to pass.

The journalist Alberto Melloni stated a few days ago in the newspaper La Repubblica that the meeting has “a clear preconclavian flavor” because “the Pope has repeatedly announced that the “door of resignation is open”.

“Perhaps the Pope summoned him to check the quality of the names you have chosen or to create a bit of cardinal sociability: but certainly the cardinals have never seen a consistory like this,” Melloni explained.