Next Sunday, remember that popes can admire resignation without dropping hints

 

Next Sunday, remember that popes can admire resignation without dropping hints

VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
Crux [Denver CO]

August 21, 2022

By John L. Allen, Jr.

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This coming Saturday, Pope Francis will hold a consistory to create new cardinals, followed by two days of meetings with all cardinals to discuss his reform of the Roman Curia. In between he’ll visit the central Italian city of L’Aquila, and although papal outings inside Italy generally are low-key affairs, this one is destined to draw saturation coverage.

The reason is because L’Aquila is home to the tomb of Celestine V, the last pope to voluntarily resign the papacy before Benedict XVI. When Benedict visited Celestine’s resting place in 2009, he left behind the pallium, or stole, which he’d received at his election – and, with the benefit of hindsight, that gesture was seen as foreshadowing Benedict’s own resignation in 2013.

As a result, observers will be hyper-attentive during Francis’s brief Aug. 28 trip to see if he drops any hints about the current state of…