Preventing St Francis From Rebuilding The Church

A Deep Dive Into The Catholic Memory Hole

First, The Official Narrative:  Pope Celestine V was unanimously elected after a Two Year Deadlock by the College of Cardinals.  He was an Ignorant Hermit who made a lot of Bad Decisions and was largely influenced by Charles II of Anjou in regards to political decisions.  After only 15 weeks as Pope he resigned and Boniface VIII was elected in his stead.  Boniface VIII immediately rescinded all those Bad Decisions and Holy Mother Church lived happily ever after.
And now, as Paul Harvey would say... "for the rest of the story"...

Peter Morrone was the eleventh of twelve children.  His father died shortly after his birth, while his mother raised him with an influence towards a religious vocation.  When his mother would ask, “Which one of you is going to become a saint?” little Peter would answer “Me, Mama! I’ll become a saint!”.   At age seventeen, he became a Benedictine monk at the monastery of Santa Maria di Faifoli, near Montagano, Italy.  Here he began to pursue a life of solitude.  In 1240, he moved into a cave on Mt Morrone, of which he received his surname.

At age thirty, he moved to Mt Majella with two other companions, where he began to apply to himself a life of strict mortification.  He would fast for six days a week, recite long prayers, and wear hair shirts and iron chains.  Many flocked to him; consequently, he founded the order of the Celestines.  He continued his life here for the next half century and became well-known throughout most of Italy.

During that time, he traveled 700 miles to be at the Council of Lyons in 1274, fighting for his Hermits of Saint Damian at a time when church authorities wanted to stop the proliferation of new orders.  He persuaded Pope Gregory X to let his hermits be incorporated as a branch of the Benedictines and secured Charles I of Anjou, king of Naples and younger brother of King Louis IX, as their protector.  (Keep all of this in mind when the Court Historians tell of this man being an ignoramus who fasted in a cave all his life.)

In 1294, after writing a letter to the Cardinals complaining that their conclave had lasted for over two years and threatening Divine Wrath if they did not soon elect a pope, he was elected Pope.  At first, he objected, but then was convinced to receive the Papal Tiara, which he did at  Aquila, outside of Rome, and again in a ceremony forty days later, so as to affirm his accession to the High Office.

The primary objective of his pontificate was to REFORM THE CLERGY, many of whom were using spiritual power to obtain wordly prerogatives, as well as living very luxurious lifestyles.  Celestine sought a way to bring the Faithful to the original Gospel spirit, and he settled on “Pardon” – he called for a year of forgiveness of sins, and return to evangelical austerity and fidelity.

Needless to say, a group of clergymen, headed by Cardinal Gaetani, objected to being reformed, and began to pressure Pope Celestine V that he should resign.  (Apparently, this included threats on his life, and dire consequences to his friends.  Consequently, Dante places Celestine in hell for his cowardice, contrary to John 22nd, who canonized him.)  

Consequently, Canon 322 of the 1983 code, descended from Canon 221 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, finds its origins in the "suggestions" of Cardinal Gaetani, which was then promulgated by Pope Celestine.  Pope Celestine then "resigned".

(By the way, Cardinal Gaetani then became the next pope, Boniface VIII.  For good measure, he had Celestine imprisoned and, some say, murdered.)

Many of the followers of Pope Celestine however, refused to accept his resignation- even though the canon said that nobody had to accept the Pope's resignation- nay, he did not even have to inform the College of Cardinals.  (One does then have to ask:  How then are they to decide upon a new pope?)

At any rate, the official narrative is full of intriguing inconsistencies.  Pope Boniface VIII, in a sweeping piece of legislation, annulled every act of Pope Celestine except for creation of new Cardinals, and his canon allowing a pope to resign.  In fact, Pope Boniface defended this canon, declaring: ""Whereas some curious persons, arguing on things of no great expediency, and rashly seeking, against the teaching of the Apostle, to know more than it is meet to know, have seemed, with little forethought, to raise an anxious doubt, whether the Roman Pontiff, especially when he recognizes himself incapable of ruling the Universal Church and of bearing the burden of the Supreme Pontificate, can validly renounce the papacy, and its burden and honour: Pope Celestine V, Our predecessor, whilst still presiding over the government of the aforesaid Church, wishing to cut off all the matter for hesitation on the subject, having deliberated with his brethren, the Cardinals of the Roman Church, of whom We were one, with the concordant counsel and assent of Us and of them all, by Apostolic authority established and decreed, that the Roman Pontiff may freely resign. We, therefore, lest it should happen that in course of time this enactment should fall into oblivion, and the aforesaid doubt should revive the discussion, have placed it among other constitutions ad perpetuam rei memoriam by the advice of our brethren."

(This Wolf, of course, would much like to know who those "curious persons, arguing on things of no great expediency" were.  But that, like so much else, will just have to await the Crack of Doom.)

Meanwhile, the Monks whom Pope Celestine allowed to observe the Original Rule of St Francis, headed by Pietro da Macerata, would become the dreaded Fraticelli, who did such evil things as adhere to three lents and declare that the "regular Francisicans" were in fact weaker ascetics not adhering to the original constitutions of the Order.  For these and similar crimes, the Inquisition would have them Burned at the Stake, while their brethren Feasted on the Steak.

Apparently, the Holy Ghost can make mistakes.  Did Our Lord Jesus Christ make a mistake when he appointed a Muleheaded Fisherman to be the first Pope?

At any rate, so ended the Last Attempt by a Pope to save the Papacy from Itself.