Ageing pope admits he must slow down, or quit - CNA

In 2014, a year into his papacy, Pope Francis told reporters that if his health got in the way of his functions as pope, he would consider stepping down.

In May, as reported in the Italian media, Pope Francis joked about his knee during a closed-door meeting with bishops, saying: "Rather than operate, I'll resign."

"The door is open, it's one of the normal options, but up until now I haven't knocked on this door," he said Saturday.

"But that doesn't mean the day after tomorrow I don't start thinking, right? But right now I honestly don't.

"Also this trip was a little bit the test. It is true that you cannot make trips in this state, you have to maybe change the style a little bit, decrease, pay off the debts of the trips you still have to make, rearrange.

"But the Lord will tell. The door is open, that is true."

INTENSE SPECULATION

The comments come after intense speculation about Pope Francis's future, after he was forced to cancel a string of events due to his knee pain including a trip to Africa planned for earlier this month.

Talk was also fuelled by his decision to call an extraordinary consistory for Aug 27, a slow summer month at the Vatican, to create 21 new cardinals - 16 of whom will be under the age of 80, thereby eligible to elect his successor in a future conclave.

Benedict's decision to quit caused shockwaves through the Catholic Church. He was first pope to resign since the Middle Ages, but the precedent has now been set.

"In all honesty, it is not a catastrophe, it is possible to change pope, it is possible to change, no problem! But I think I have to limit myself a bit with these efforts," Pope Francis said on Saturday.

He mostly used a wheelchair during his trip to Canada, where he offered a historic apology for decades of abuse of Indigenous children at residential schools run by the Catholic Church.

But he did stand up in his "popemobile" to greet crowds.

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2022-07-30 12:15:00Z
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