Less than a year ago, the colon operation was early July. A long operation, news with a dropper, endless rumors. Pope Francis has the first real health shock, is he resigning? He himself joked about it in September: I’m “still alive. Although some wanted me dead. I know that there have even been meetings between prelates, who thought the Pope was more serious than what was said “. A great return, with repetitive trips. Then came the knee osteoarthritis, and he began to skip appointments (the most obvious one in Florence, even if it was later understood that the causes were also other) and gradually use the wheelchair. Now the rumors have gone mad again, especially for what emerged days after the meeting behind closed doors (with 230 people the concept of closed doors is at least forced) with the bishops gathered for the assembly of the CEI.
The phrases (artfully inflated) pronounced at the assembly of Italian bishops
What did the Pope say? A joke, and we know that he often tells her: “Rather than having an operation, I resign!”, Followed by a laugh. He feels well and does not want to go back under the knife to have a prosthesis grafted – any doctor advises him, in fact, he returns to life – and continues with the infiltrations, which are almost always useless, if not harmful (the writer has matured experience). But Francesco is known that it is not easy to convince, and moreover he said, as reported by the Corriere, “to govern they say you need the head, not the legs”. In short, the message that returns without hesitation is that he does not think about resigning, even if in the abstract he has never excluded him. In fact, in 2014 he said that Benedict XVI “has opened a door, the door of the popes emeritus” and if “a bishop of Rome feels his strength waning, I think he should ask himself the same questions as Benedict”.
The suspicions for the wave of new cardinals: the “Bergogliani” majority in the Conclave
But other elements have fueled the Curia’s rumors and gossip. First of all, the maxi consistory announced for the end of August, when it will create 21 new cardinals, of which 16 are electors and five are over 80 years old. Not only that: for that date he convened the “general states” of the Sacred College, which are usually held in the Vacant See (they are called General Congregations), the official reason is to reflect on the new Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, which has just entered into force. Two moves that triggered the question: is he preparing the Conclave with the cardinals close to him? Including those just announced, the cardinals created by Bergoglio rise to 95, and it must be considered that the quorum for an election oscillates around 75-77, given that the total number of voters is 120. This certainly does not mean that all the “Bergoglians “They will vote in the same way, indeed, but to a large extent they reflect his line, even if most of them do not know the others.
The visit in August to the tomb of Celestino V, the first resigning pope
Finally, another element sparked the imagination of the experts of the Sacre Stanze (mostly self-proclaimed as such): the visit to L’Aquila was scheduled for 28 August with the mass in front of the Basilica of Collemaggio which houses the reliquary of Celestino V, the Pope of the “great refusal”. It is the celebration of Forgiveness, a deeply felt religious holiday. Well, Benedict XVI also went to L’Aquila, but it was April 28, 2009, a few weeks after the earthquake. On that occasion Ratzinger placed the pallium on the reliquary (liturgical vestment consisting of a strip of white woolen cloth wrapped around his shoulders. It represents the sheep that the shepherd carries on his shoulders), and only after his resignation was the gesture loaded of meaning. But, it must be remembered, almost four years had passed, during which time everything had happened in the Curia. And while Bergoglio continues to have trips around the world announced – to start in July in Congo and South Sudan, then to follow Canada, in short, not simple transfers – publications of all kinds are flourishing. The journalist Gianni Valente, one of the most serious connoisseurs of Vatican events, writes that in France, an international network of authors presented as “the best Vatican experts in the world” has created a magazine designed specifically for the members of the College of Cardinals ” a Postalmarket for cardinals entitled “Cardinalis” ». An article on the hypothetical imminent end of Francis’ pontificate published in the Washington Post, certainly a very authoritative newspaper on the resignations of American presidents, certainly detonated everything, but unprecedented due to the events of the Oltretevere.