The “penitential pilgrimage” of the sovereign pontiff revealed his declining health. Pope Francis has admitted that he could “keep the same rhythm of travel as before”.
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This five -day visit to Canada confirmed to Pope Francis that the time for long trips filled with multiple daily public events undoubtedly belong to a bygone era for him. During the press conference he held on the plane which brought him back from Canada, on the night of Friday 29 to Saturday 30 July, François said his intention to continue to do it, however. “I will try to continue making trips,” he said. But he does not believe that he can “keep the same pace of travel as before”. “I believe that at my age, and with these limits, I must save myself a little to be able to serve the Church,” he recognized.
The three Canadian stops (Edmonton, Quebec and Iqualuit), with thousands of kilometers traveled, several time zone changes and reduced mobility by the use of a wheelchair, were a test for the Vatican. The Argentinian pope has drawn a conclusion stated without false modesty and with simplicity: “I think I have to limit myself a little, with these efforts. It may be necessary to change the style, to decrease, to restructure [travel]. “
Since May, a violent knee pain, caused at least in part by a fracture, prevents him from taking more than a few steps and forces him to use a wheelchair most of the time. A surgical operation at the knee could undoubtedly be envisaged, he suggested: “Doctors tell me that yes.” But himself refuses it. “In my case, it is not suitable,” he said. The six -hour anesthesia he suffered a year ago for a partial ablation of the colon left him bad memories. “I still have consequences, he said. And we don’t laugh with that.”
blur on the next trips
Travel of the coming months are taking shape, but with a certain blur. In September, he should go to Kazakhstan, where an interreligious meeting will be held and where he hopes to be able to meet for the second time Kirill, the patriarch of Moscow. “It’s a quiet trip, without travel,” he said. He would also like to go to Ukraine, which will undoubtedly be less quiet. “We will now see what I find when I go to kyiv,” he said.
A visit scheduled for early July in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan-du-Sud had to be postponed at the last moment, due to its knee, precisely. François announced that he will probably split these two destinations, with a trip to Sudan-du-Sud first, “because it is a trip with the Archbishop of Cantorbery and with the bishop of the Church of Scotland “. The DRC will come afterwards, “but it will be next year, [after] the rainy season”. “Me, I have all the good will, but we will see what my leg will tell me,” he anticipated.
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