L'Aquila, capital of the central Italian region of Abruzzo and the final resting place of Pope Celestine V in the 13th century, was the site of a severe earthquake that practically levelled the city in 2009, leaving around 300 people dead and roughly 1,500 others injured.

Celestine V led the Catholic Church for just five months, from July 5, 1294 until his resignation on December 13.

Pope Benedict XVI visited L'Aquila after the 2009 earthquake, leaving behind the pallium, or stole, which he'd received at his election, which observers later came to see as a foreshadowing of his own resignation four years later.

That gesture fuelled rumours that Pope Francis, who is facing several health challenges and who has expressed a willingness to resign if he feels incapable of fulfilling the demands of his office, would potentially announce his own resignation on Sunday. Continue reading