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"When the history of Pope Francis' time as Bishop of Rome is finally written, there is a good chance that the Year of Our Lord 2020 will be recorded as the most important of his entire pontificate."
At least that's what I thought back in January.
But suddenly the coronavirus pandemic arrived and, now, everything looks up for grabs…It did not look like that at the beginning of the year.
Some are wondering whether it may actually be (Francis') last.
The pope's recent decisions to "retire" the powerful Italian churchman Angelo Sodano as dean of the College of Cardinals and to make Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines head one of the most powerful Vatican offices – Propaganda Fide – are being read as signs that Francis is beginning to prepare for the election of his successor on the Chair of Peter.
The 83-year-old Jesuit pope will also be issuing two major documents in 2020, and probably a few others. He'll continue to travel the globe, possibly going to places where his predecessors had hoped to visit but were denied entry. And there's no doubt he will add more men to the illustrious red-hatted group from which will emerge the next Bishop of Rome.
So any way one looks at this new calendar year, it will almost certainly prove to be pivotal.
Any way one looks at it, indeed!
Don't cry for me Amazonia
The only major thing that Francis managed to get done before the pandemic caged him inside the Vatican was to issue his post-synodal exhortation, Querida Amazonia. And for a variety of reasons that are not all well founded, that document left a lot of people disappointed.
As for travelling to places where his predecessors were denied entry, you can put that on hold, too. The pope's not going anywhere right now or in the near future.
How bad is it? So bad that it's now big news that Vatican cardinals and archbishops are going to start crossing the Italian border and travel to other parts of Europe, which has been possible since June 3. That's more than a month ago.
As for creating new cardinals, there's word that Francis has ordered 15 new rings to give out with red hats at an upcoming consistory. But there is no indication when that might happen. And, as it's always been in this pontificate, it's hard to tell whom Francis will put in this college that will eventually elect his successor.
Where's the McCarrick report?
There's also the not so little matter of the exhaustive report on the former member of college named Theodore McCarrick.
It has now been two years since Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former papal nuncio to the United States, issued a blistering attack on the Jesuit pope, accusing him of turning a blind eye to McCarrick's sexual misconduct and calling on him to resign the papacy.
Where is this report? The Vatican promised that it would soon release it.
The delay likely has to do with the fact – fact, not speculation – that Francis' most immediate predecessor, and officials in that previous pontificate, bear considerably more responsibility than the Argentine pope for whatever lack of oversight there was concerning the former cardinal.
The current pope certainly doesn't want to release a report that causes more embarrassment to the elderly and frail Benedict XVI who is mourning the recent death of what was his last sibling.
The bizarre state of suspended animation
It is a strange time at the Vatican. There are very, very few tourists and pilgrims right now, even more than a month after European residents were allowed to start travelling to each other's countries.
Most shops around St. Peter's Square are still closed. The whole area has a feel of abandonment, emptiness. This punctuates the continued state of suspended animation one feels regarding our partial return to worship. Or should that be our return to partial worship?
We are in bizarre times right now.
After so many months of lockdown, and then piecemeal re-opening, there is a feeling of weariness and fatigue at the Vatican. And there's a sense of uncertainty about the future.
Pope Francis, for his part, is taking his normal stay-at-home holidays during all of July. One can only wonder what he is preparing for the next half of 2020, despite ongoing restraints.
He has always demonstrated an uncanny ability to launch an initiative or make big news when it's least expected.
We must be on the alert then, for we do not know the day nor the hour.
Follow me on Twitter @robinrome
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