ROME, Maine (AP) — Pope Francis fueled speculation about his pontificate's future by announcing that he would travel to L'Aquila in central Italy in August for a feast organized by Pope Celestine V, one of the few pontiffs to resign before Pope Benedict XVI stepped down in 2013.
Given his worsening mobility problems, which have compelled him to use a wheelchair for the last month, unsourced speculation in the Italian and Catholic media has been widespread that the 85-year-old Francis might be intending to follow in Benedict's footsteps.
Those reports gathered traction this week when Francis announced a consistory on Aug. 27 to elect 21 new cardinals. Sixteen of the cardinals are under the age of 80, making them eligible to vote in the conclave that will choose Francis' successor.Francis will have loaded the College of Cardinals with 83 of the 132 voting-age cardinals once they are joined to the ranks of princes of the church. While no one knows how the cardinals will vote, the chances of electing a successor who shares Francis' pastoral aims are increasing.
Francis also indicated that he will convene two days of meetings the following week to brief the cardinals on his new apostolic constitution restructuring the Vatican bureaucracy, which he unveiled on Aug. 27. The declaration, which takes effect on Sunday, allows women to lead Vatican posts, establishes term limits for clergy Vatican personnel, and presents the Holy See as an institution serving local churches rather than the other way around.In 2013, Francis was elected Pope with the goal of reforming the Roman Curia. Francis' principal duty as Pope has been completed in some aspects now that the nine-year project has been rolled out and at least largely implemented.As a result, the normally regular announcement of a pastoral visit to L'Aquila on Saturday carried more speculative weight than it could have otherwise.
The timing was notable: from August until mid-September, the Vatican and the rest of Italy are generally on vacation, with all but essential business closed. Francis' invitation for a huge consistory in late August to create new cardinals, as well as his meeting of churchmen for two days of talks on implementing his reform and a symbolically significant pastoral visit, implies he may be planning something out of the usual.
"It all got much more exciting with today's announcement that @Pontifex will go to L'Aquila in the middle of the August consistory," tweeted Vatican commentator Robert Mickens, referring to an essay he had published in La Croix International about the suspicions swirling surrounding the pontificate's future.Celestine V, a hermit pope who resigned after five months in 1294, overburdened by the job, is buried in L'Aquila's church. Benedict visited L'Aquila in 2009, which had been ravaged by a recent earthquake, and prayed at Celestine's tomb, where he left his pallium stole.No one realized the significance of the gesture at the time. Four years later, the 85-year-old Benedict would follow in Celestine's footsteps and resign, claiming he lacked the physical and mental ability to continue the papacy's rigors.
The Vatican made the announcement on Saturday. On August 28, Francis will travel to L'Aquila to say Mass and open the "Holy Door" at the basilica that houses Celestine's grave. The celebration of the Feast of Forgiveness, which was instituted by Celestine in a papal bull, takes place at the same time in the L'Aquila church.No pope has visited L'Aquila since, according to Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, the current archbishop of L'Aquila.
In a statement announcing the visit, he added, "We hope that all people, especially those afflicted by conflicts and internal divides, may (come) and find the road of unity and peace."
Francis praised Benedict's decision to step down as "opening the way" for future popes to do the same, and he had expected a two- to five-year papacy for himself.
Francis has showed no signs of wanting to stand down nine years later, and he continues to work on significant projects.
He has arranged a major summit of the world's bishops in 2023 to discuss the rising decentralization of the Catholic Church and the further implementation of his reforms, in addition to upcoming trips to Congo, South Sudan, Canada, and Kazakhstan this year.
Francis, on the other hand, has been hampered by torn ligaments in his right knee, which have made walking difficult and painful. He has told friends that he does not want to have surgery, citing his reaction to anesthesia last July when he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his large intestine removed.
Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, one of Francis' closest advisers and friends, warned this week that rumors of a papal resignation or the end of Francis' pontificate were false.
Maradiaga told Religion Digital, a Spanish-language Catholic website, "I believe these are optical illusions, cerebral illusions."
Most Vatican observers expect Francis to quit someday, but not before Benedict dies, according to Christopher Bellitto, a church historian at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. The 95-year-old retired Pope is physically feeble but alert, and his house in the Vatican gardens receives guests on occasion.
In an email, Bellitto stated, "He isn't going to have two former popes floating around." He cautioned against reading too much into Francis' upcoming visit to L'Aquila, pointing out that Benedict's gesture in 2009 was mostly forgotten.
"I don't recall a lot of stories at the time indicating that Benedict's visit in 2009 made us assume he was going to quit," he remarked, implying that Francis' pastoral visit to l'Aquila could be precisely that.
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