Celestine V resigns the papacy

1294

An aged hermit reluctantly elevated to the throne of Peter found the politics of Rome unbearable. After five months he read a statement of resignation, the first ever by a pope, and returned to his cave. His successor Boniface VIII promptly imprisoned him to be safe. Dante placed Celestine in the vestibule of Hell for making the great refusal, a judgment that has divided commentators ever since.