The Pope who Quit

I have always liked history, especially Church history, because it tells you so much about how we got where we are. Local history is equally interesting and I look forward to the tour through the historic Lucan House grounds later in May.

Pope Benedict is a person who also has a great sense of history and he walked over the pages of history on April 29th 2009 when he prayed at the tomb of Pope Celestine V which had been damaged by the L'Aquila earthquake. Without explanation he paused for several minutes praying and placed his pallium, a symbol of his authority, on Celestine's glass encased-tomb.

Celestine made Church history when on December 13th 1394 he became the only Pope to abdicate. He had reigned for a little more than three months.

Peter Morrone, as he was known, was an unlikely candidate for Pope being the ultimate outsider with few supporters. He was an austere monk prone to apocalyptic visions and was a real back to basics man modelling himself on John the Baptist. His arrival was quite a shock and he even insisted on living in a wooden hut which he erected within the Papal palace.

When he quit, people at the time were divided, some seeing him as a saintly reformer who was too good for this world, others as someone who could not cope with the burden of office.

His story is beautifully told in a new book by Jon Sweeney - "The Pope who Quit", which is well worth a read. It bills itself as a true medieval tale of mystery, death and salvation and reminds us that strange things have happened in the history of our 2,000 year old church.

Fr. Peter O'Reilly