Pope Francis’ 10th birthday: how is his health, what disease is he suffering from and why does he not want to have an operation?

It is unanimous: all the sources consulted say yes satisfactory state of health. of Pope Francis, who will turn 87 only next December e Monday 10 years of pontificate. THE gonarthrosiswho suffers from severe arthrosis in his right knee, forces him to continue using a wheelchair to move around and a cane when walking, with difficulty.

This is your health graph.

On May 5 last year, the Pope, already affected by the knee crisis -of which he often spoke-, made a leap towards the public. He appeared seated in a wheelchair during the general audience, pushed by his butler.

Doctors they advised him to undergo surgery knee ligament injury as a result of wrong posture for years, due to turn to hip problems who had forced him to operate while still living in Argentina.

colon operation

Dad He refused because in July 2021 he had been operated on for diverticulitis (infection of the bags that form with age in the colon) at the Gemelli Polyclinic.

Surgeons, a a five-hour operation, they had removed 30cm of the infected colon. The postoperative period was normal.

Since this area of ​​the colon is where infections lead to colon or anal cancer, versions quickly started flying. The Pope personally said that «the doctors assure me that I do not have cancer. It’s just gossip“, He added,

But last year he told the assembly of Italian bishops that he did not want to be operated on because the anesthesia of the colon operation I had annoyed him which must have been important for her not to want to have surgery again.

Moreover, on that occasion Bergoglio himself set fire to the cauldron of rumors in the Vatican, adding to the amazed Italian bishops: “before having surgery, I prefer to resign”.

He later clarified that he was joking.

But since then the Pope has been using a wheelchair, which prevents him from celebrating masses and other liturgical acts because he lacks the autonomy to move around. This too has become a topic to bring up his eventual resignation.

cataract operation

The Pope underwent a short cataract operation in 2020 that did not require hospitalization in the Pius XII clinic, owned by the Church, where it was performed successfully.

To avoid knee surgery, the Pope undergoes an intense treatment based on infiltrations and massages which have given good results but do not cure osteoarthritis.

After having had to suspend some trips abroad or reduce his travels, as in the case of his visit to Canada, in the recent apostolic journey which he had suspended almost a year ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in South Sudan, the Pope has always traveled in wheelchair and walked a lot with a cane.

The public has already become accustomed to his illness and he himself moves more nimbly when he walks.

Also, the cameras work like clockwork. When the Pope moves to speak from the altar, they know how to show the public and get the reporters to intervene who recount the scene, hiding from view the changes of pontifical chairs and the movements of the Pope until the scene is set.

That mechanism works with increasing skill. But there are always the problems of a Pope who suffers from impediments to moving and who cannot celebrate my standing, forcing him to preside over the liturgies seated.

The Pope has said several times that “the idea of ​​resigning has never crossed my mind”.

But the death of his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, adjourned the matter because it was unrealistic while he was alive for the current pontiff to resign and there would be a sum of three popes, one in government and two retired.

Furthermore, despite what Francisco says, he himself has raised the question of his resignation in several journalistic interviews. In them he made it clear that his resignation was not a current issue. He said if he ever did, would choose the title of bishop emeritus of Rome. Never again a pope emeritus, a title invented by Joseph Ratzinger himself, because it had to be clear that “there is only one” pope.

He said that too I would not go back to Argentina and he could choose to reside in a pension of priests of the Archdiocese of Rome or in a place of the vicariate itself. It should not be forgotten that the ministry for which the Pope is elected is that of Bishop of Rome, successor of Saint Peter and which supports his status as Pope of the universal Church. When we speak of a vacant seat, it is that of the Bishop of Rome.

Finally, before becoming pope, a 21-year-old Bergoglio suffered from a lung infection, which led to an operation to remove the upper lobe of his right lung in 1957.

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