VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has fueled the rumor mill with a postponed Africa trip and the curious timing of an upcoming meeting of cardinals — but experts caution against assuming a resignation is nigh.
Hobbled by pain in his knee and forced to use a wheelchair in recent weeks, the 85-year-old pontiff postponed a July trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan last week.
That move, along with an unusual decision to hold a consistory to name new cardinals during the vacation month of August, triggered intense speculation about his plans for the future, including the most radical — that he was planning to step down.
Not so fast, many say.
“In the pope’s entourage, the majority of people don’t really believe in the possibility of a resignation,” a Vatican source said.
Rumors within the insular Roman Curia — the Catholic Church’s powerful governing body — are nothing new, and often fueled by those with an interest, said Italian Vatican expert Marco Politi.
“These rumors are encouraged by the pope’s opponents who are only eager to see Francis leave,” he said.
The resignation of a pope was once almost unthinkable. But when Benedict XVI stood down in 2013, citing his declining physical and mental health, he set a precedent.
In 2014, a year after being elected to replace Benedict, Francis himself told reporters that were his health to impede his functions as pope, he would consider stepping down too.
“He (Benedict) opened a door, the door to retired popes,” the pontiff said then.
More recently in May, as reported by various Italian media, Francis joked about his knee during a closed-door meeting with bishops: “Rather than operate, I’ll resign.”
However, a trip to Canada at the end of July is still on the pontiff’s schedule, and the pope continues to receive injections in his knee and physical therapy, according to the Vatican.
As a child, Francis had one of his lungs partially removed. Today, besides his knee issue, he suffers recurring sciatic nerve pain.
Rumors of a resignation also flared last year after Francis underwent colon surgery, prompting him to tell a Spanish radio station that the idea “hadn’t even crossed my mind.”
But beyond his health, a series of calendared events in upcoming months have some Vatican watchers questioning whether Francis is laying the groundwork for retirement, while ensuring that his reforms stay intact.
First was his decision to call an extraordinary consistory for August 27, a slow summer month at the Vatican, to create 21 new cardinals — 16 of whom will be under the age of 80, thereby eligible to elect his successor in a future conclave.
Since becoming pope in 2013, the Argentine pontiff has created 83 cardinals in a move to shape the future of the Catholic Church, in part to counter Europe’s historically dominant influence, and to reflect his values.
On August 28, Francis will pay a visit to L’Aquila and the tomb of Celestine V — the first pope to have resigned from the papacy, in the 13th century.
He then joins the world’s cardinals — many of them meeting their peers for the first time — in two days of discussions over the reform of the Roman Curia, which Francis announced in March with the unveiling of a new constitution.
Francis’ shake-up of the Roman Curia attempts to shift the Church back toward its pastoral roots, allows lay Catholics to head Vatican departments and creates a dicastery specifically for charity works among other reforms.
Could the August calendar be taken as a hint, as some in the media have suggested?
“At this stage, it is a question of being realistic and not alarmist,” Politi cautioned.
He said it was “hard to imagine” Francis would resign while the Synod of Bishops — an initiative meaningful to Francis that is intended to study how the Church moves forward in a more inclusive way — is ongoing, due to complete in 2023.
Alberto Melloni, a professor of Christianity and secretary of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Sciences in Bologna, said “preposterous” conjectures had been made about the pope’s health and his intentions.
“These are things in which there is a desire to understand, to speculate, but there is little to say,” he said.
Pope Francis’s future sparks debate, resignation seems unlikely
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Pope Francis’s future sparks debate, resignation seems unlikely

- Pontiff hobbled by pain in his knee and forced to use a wheelchair in recent weeks
- Rumors of a resignation also flared last year after Francis underwent colon surgery
India marks inclusion of 12 Maratha forts on UNESCO World Heritage List

- Forts were once used by the Maratha Empire between the 17th and 19th centuries
- India now ranks 6th globally and 2nd in Asia for the number of World Heritage Sites
NEW DELHI: India’s Maratha Military Landscapes — a network of 12 strategic forts — have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming the country’s 44th site to receive the designation.
The forts were used by the rulers of the Maratha Empire, who held power across parts of central, western and southern India between the late 17th century and the early 19th century.
Marathas rose to prominence after the decline of the Mughal Empire, following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, the last powerful Mughal ruler, who alone had controlled much of India for nearly 50 years.
The proposal to include the Maratha forts on the UNESCO list was submitted by India to the World Heritage Committee in January 2024.
The inscription, which took place during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris on Friday, marked “a significant milestone in the global acknowledgment of India’s rich and diverse cultural heritage,” the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.
The Maratha Military Landscapes of India were nominated under the criteria in recognition of “their exceptional testimony to a living cultural tradition, their architectural and technological significance, and their deep associations with historic events and traditions.”
The fortification network covers 11 forts in the state of Maharashtra — Salher, Shivneri, Lohagad, Khanderi, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala, Vijaydurg, and Sindhudurg — and one, Gingee Fort, in Tamil Nadu.
With the newest addition, India now ranks sixth globally and second in the Asia-Pacific region for the number of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
“The fact that UNESCO selected 12 forts from the Maratha dynasty as World Heritage Sites is a matter of great pride for the history of the Marathas, Maharashtra and India,” Prof. Santosh Mahadevrao Ghuge, who heads the Department of History at the Fergusson College in Pune, one of the main cities of Maharashtra, told Arab News.
“The war strategy of the Marathas has unique significance in Indian and world history, and forts have an important place in this war strategy. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Maratha military prowess and the use of forts in warfare enabled the Marathas to defeat the powerful Mughals.”
New Gaza-bound aid boat leaves Italy

- The Handala, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left the port of Syracuse shortly after 12:00 p.m.
- The former Norwegian trawler will sail for about a week in the Mediterranean in the hope of reaching Gaza’s coast
The Handala, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left the port of Syracuse shortly after 12:00 p.m. (1000 GMT), an AFP journalist saw, carrying about fifteen activists.
Several dozen people, some holding Palestinian flags and others wearing keffiyeh scarves, gathered at the port to cheer the boat’s departure with cries of “Free Palestine.”
The former Norwegian trawler – loaded with medical supplies, food, children’s equipment and medicine – will sail for about a week in the Mediterranean, covering roughly 1,800 kilometers, in the hope of reaching Gaza’s coast.
In early March, Israel imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza amid an impasse in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May.
The boat will make a stop at Gallipoli, in southeastern Italy, where two members of the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI) are expected to join.
The initiative comes six weeks after the departure of the Madleen, another ship that left Italy for Gaza transporting aid and activists, including Greta Thunberg.
Israel authorities intercepted the Madleen about 185 kilometers west of Gaza’s coast.
“This is a mission for the children in Gaza, to break the humanitarian blockade and to break the summer silence on the genocide,” said Gabrielle Cathala, one of the two France Unbowed party members set to board the boat on July 18.
“I hope we will reach Gaza but if not, it will be yet another violation of international law” by Israel, she added.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that led to 1,219 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 that the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry says that at least 57,882 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military reprisals. The UN considers the figures reliable.
Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir, 100, discharged from hospital

- Mahathir Mohamad was leader of the Southeast Asian nation for more than two decades
- He has been hospitalized repeatedly in recent years, most recently in October for a respiratory infection
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has been discharged from hospital, his office said on Sunday, after being admitted for fatigue following a picnic celebration for his 100th birthday.
Mahathir, leader of the Southeast Asian nation for more than two decades, has a history of heart problems and has undergone bypass surgeries. He has been hospitalized repeatedly in recent years, most recently in October for a respiratory infection.
He was under observation at the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur for fatigue-related issues on Sunday, his office said. “Mahathir has been allowed home as of 4:45 p.m. (0845 GMT),” it said in a statement.
A physician who was a member of parliament until 2022, Mahathir drove himself on Sunday to the celebration, which also marked the 99th birthday of his wife, Hasmah Mohd Ali, a day earlier, local media reported.
The reports said he cycled for an hour before appearing tired. His birthday was on Thursday.
Mahathir was prime minister for 22 years until 2003. He returned as premier in 2018 after leading the opposition coalition to a historic win, but his government collapsed in less than two years due to infighting.
Several hurt in anti-migrant unrest in Spanish town

- The regional government did not say how many people were injured but stated that at least one person had been arrested for the violence.
MADRID: Several people were hurt in a second night of anti-migrant unrest in the Spanish town of Torre Pacheco after a pensioner was beaten up, authorities said on Sunday.
Despite a major police presence, groups armed with batons roamed the streets looking for foreign-origin people, regional newspaper La Opinion de Murcia reported.
The regional government did not say how many people were injured but stated that at least one person had been arrested for the violence.
The unrest erupted after a 68-year-old man told Spanish media he was beaten up in the street on Wednesday by three youths of North African origin.
The attack was filmed and put on social media.
The town hall organized a demonstration on Friday that was intended to be peaceful but where far-right elements shouted anti-migrant slogans.
One group, named “Deport Them Now,” posted a message on social media calling for attacks against people of North African origin.
Spanish authorities launched an appeal for calm on Sunday in the town of 36,000 people.
“Torre Pacheco must get back to normal,” said the head of the Murcian regional government Fernando Lopez Miras in a message on X.
“I understand the frustration but nothing justifies violence,” added the conservative politician.
“I call on residents to be calm, for tranquility,” said Torre Pacheco mayor, Pedro Angel Roca Ternel, on RTVE public television.
Spain’s Youth Minister Sira Rego, a member of the extreme left wing party Sumar, condemned the violence against migrants in a message on Bluesky, blaming the role of the “ultra-right” in the unrest.
Russia takes new village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

- Russian troops advance toward the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region
- Russia’s defense ministry say troops had captured the village of Myrne
MOSCOW: Russia said on Sunday it took another village in the west of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as its troops advance toward the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.
Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine has lasted for more than three years, with attacks intensifying this summer and US-led negotiations so far yielding no results to end the fighting.
Russia’s defense ministry said Russian troops had captured the village of Myrne, calling the village by its Soviet name “Karl Marx.”
It lies close to the administrative border between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
The ministry claimed forces had moved “deep into the enemy’s defense” to take the village.
Myrne was one of two villages Moscow claimed on Sunday.
Russia has for months refused a ceasefire proposed by the United States and Kyiv.
Moscow launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.