Pope Francis admitted Saturday that he needs to slow down, telling reporters after a six-day trip to Canada that he can’t keep up with his international travel schedule and may have to think about retiring.
“I don’t think I can go at the same pace I used to travel,” said the 85-year-old pope, who suffers from knee pain that has made him increasingly reliant on a wheelchair.
“I think that at my age and with this limitation, I have to save a little to be able to serve the Church. Or, failing that, think about the possibility of stepping aside.
It is not the first time that Francis has raised the possibility of following the example of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who resigned due to health problems in 2013 and now lives quietly in Vatican City.
In 2014, a year into his papacy, Francis told reporters that if his health got in the way of his duties as pope, he would consider resigning.
In May, as Italian media reported, Francis joked about his knee during a closed-door meeting with bishops, saying: “Instead of operating, I will resign.”
“The door is open, it is one of the normal options, but so far I have not knocked on this door,” he said on Saturday.
“But that doesn’t mean that the day after tomorrow I don’t think about it, does it? But right now, honestly, no.
“Also this trip was a bit of a test. It is true that you cannot make trips in this state, you may have to change your style a bit, decrease, pay off the debts of the trips you have left to do, rearrange.
“But the Lord will tell. The door is open, that’s true.”
intense speculation
The comments come after intense speculation about Francis’ future after he was forced to cancel a number of events due to knee pain, including a trip to Africa planned for earlier this month.
The talks were also boosted by his decision to convene an extraordinary consistory for August 27, a slow summer month at the Vatican, to create 21 new cardinals, 16 of whom will be under 80, making them eligible. to elect his successor in the future. conclave.
Benedict XVI’s decision to resign caused a stir in the Catholic Church. He was the first pope to resign since the Middle Ages, but now the precedent has been set.
“In all honesty, it’s not a catastrophe, it’s possible to change potatoes, it’s possible to change, no problem! But I think I have to limit myself a little bit with these efforts,” Francis said Saturday.
He primarily used a wheelchair during his trip to Canada, where he offered a historic apology for decades of abuse of indigenous children in residential schools run by the Catholic Church.
But he stood up in his “popemobile” to wave to the crowd.
Francis said surgery on his knee was not an option, adding that he was still feeling the effects of the six hours he spent under anesthesia last summer, when he underwent surgery on his colon.
“You don’t play games, you don’t mess around with anesthesia,” he said.
But he added: “I am going to try to continue making trips and being close to people, because I think it is a form of service, of closeness.”
Francis is still waiting to reschedule his postponed trip to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“But it will be next year, due to the rainy season – let’s see: I have all the good will, but let’s see what the leg says,” he joked.
The Argentine pontiff reiterated that he would like to visit war-torn Ukraine, but gave no details on the status of his plans.
He has another foreign trip planned for a religious congress in Kazakhstan in September.
“For the moment I would like to go: it is a quiet trip, without so much movement,” the Pope said.