Letter #21, 2023 Tues Jan 17: Kirill insidethevatican.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from insidethevatican.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) Pope Francis' plans to visit the central Italian city of L'Aquila and its basilica Aug. 28 fueled speculation of a possible announcement of his resignation, which he has firmly denied. L'Aquila's basilica is the burial place of St. Celestine V, who issued a decree declaring the right of a pope to voluntarily resign, and then he did so in 1294. It was also where on top of Pope Celestine's glass casket then-Pope Benedict XVI left his woolen pallium he had worn during his installation Mass a gesture many wondered had been a sign of his resignation to come four years later.
Stepping down: Experts draft proposed laws on status of a retired pope myspiritfm.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from myspiritfm.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Canon lawyers are proposing new laws that will delineate the rules on papal retirement. Retired Pope Benedict XVI has had to trailblaze a path, as the last pope to step down was in 1294.