Reluctant to have surgery, Pope Francis consults Atlético de Madrid doctor about his knee

How does the “arthritic process” in your knee progress, even though your mobility has improved due to the infiltrations and massages performed on a daily basis, Pope Francis consulted another luminary, the Spanish orthopedic doctor José María Villalón.

This is the head of the medical services of Atlético de Madrid, a company of which the Argentine Diego Simeone has been technical director for eleven years.

Doctor José María Villalón was consulted by the Spanish Bishops’ Conference itself, which asked a group of medical specialists from that country what could be done to help Francisco in the situation he is going through.

The Atlético de Madrid orthopedist told Cope Catholic radio that he had performed “a first visit” to the pontiff Argentine who had to cancel his first trip last January due to worsening pain.

In early May, the Pope began walking with the aid of a cane and using a wheelchair to get around.

His health problems soon became a matter of state because he “played at being the pope” requires enormous physical effort for the number of appointments, meetings and trips that the pontiff has to make, as well as for the looming commitments of the highly centralized management of the universal Church of 1,300 million baptised.

a serious problem

As for profound theological reasons there is no vice-pope (the doctrine states that the same Holy Spirit participates in his election), a pontiff with physical problems and advanced age (Bergoglio will be 86 on the 17th of next month) represents a serious problem.

The Pope had to cancel a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan in July, which he now hopes to make next February. Yes, he was able to do all three, in Canada, Kazakhstan and Bahrain.

Jorge Bergoglio partially recovered walking supported by a cane and using a wheelchair. People got used to it and fears of a pontiff disappeared condemned to immobility.