The pope said he took the rumors about his possible resignation “quite well,” especially the theories that have surfaced about it in recent weeks.
He noted there were journalists who speculated about his upcoming trip to L’Aquila, Italy, where the tomb of St. Celestine V is located. Celestine V in 1294 became the first pope in the history of the Church to resign from the papacy. Pope Benedict XVI visited the tomb and left his pallium there in 2009, four years before his resignation.
Pope Francis said it was interesting to see how some put the events together as if they were “meta-messages,” including his calling a consistory in August, “where not even the dog is on the street in Rome,” because of summer vacations.
The analysis over his possible resignation made sense, he said, but was “pure coincidence.”
“I really don’t feel like the Lord is asking me that right now. When I feel that the Lord is asking me, yes,” he said, regarding an eventual resignation from the papacy.
Pope Francis said the knee pain he has been experiencing for several months “scared me, in the sense of ‘think a little about what your future is going to be like now.’”
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