Pope Francis knocked three times with a stick made of olive wood to open the holy door of the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila.
He is the first pope to open the door since Pope Celestine V, 728 years ago.
The Pope then prayed before the tomb of Pope Celestine V, the first pope to resign, in the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L’Aquila.
Pope Celestine V was a Benedictine monk who was crowned pope in that same cathedral in 1294.