Great refusal

The great refusal (Italian: il gran rifiuto) is the error attributed in Dante's Inferno to one of the souls found trapped aimlessly at the Vestibule of Hell. The phrase is usually believed to refer to Pope Celestine V and his laying down of the papacy on the grounds of age, though it is occasionally taken as referring to Esau, Diocletian, or Pontius Pilate, with some arguing that Dante would not have condemned a canonized saint. Dante may have deliberately conflated some or all of these figures in the unnamed shade.

Poscia ch’io v’ebbi alcun riconosciuto,
vidi e conobbi l’ombra di colui
che fece per viltade il gran rifiuto.

After I had identified a few,
I saw and recognized the shade of him
who made, through cowardice, the great refusal.

—Dante Alighieri

—Allen Mandelbaum

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