ROME — Pope Francis added fuel to rumors about the future of his pontificate by announcing he would 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 Francis might be planning to follow in Benedict's footsteps, given his increased mobility problems that have forced him to use a wheelchair for the last month.
Francis was elected pope in 2013 on a mandate to reform the Roman Curia. Now that the nine-year project has been rolled out and at least partially implemented, Francis's main task as pope has in some ways been accomplished. The basilica in L'Aquila hosts the tomb of Celestine V, a hermit pope who resigned after five months in 1294, overwhelmed by the job. In 2009, Benedict visited L'Aquila, which had been devastated by a recent earthquake, and prayed at Celestine's tomb, leaving his pallium stole on it.
"We hope that all people, especially those harmed by conflicts and internal divisions, might and find the path of solidarity and peace," he said in a statement announcing the visit.
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