Francisco explained that he had difficulty walking. They advised him to have surgery. Photo: EFE.
“I can’t walk, the doctor begged me”Pope Francis told a group of pilgrims on Saturday, to explain why he did not visit the Vatican’s Paul VI hall, —where he received them from the spectators — to greet them.
“I’ll say hello later, but there’s a problem: this foot isn’t good, it doesn’t work, and the doctor told me not to walk. I want to walk, but this time I had to follow the doctorFrancis told the group of pilgrims from Slovakia.
“That’s why I’m asking you to sacrifice in climbing the stairs and I greet you here, sitting down. It’s a shamebut I offer it for your country, ”the Pontiff added.
Francis did not go through the believers of Paul VI Hall for greetings, but he did come itself on stage, as he left him next to Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, Regent of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household.
“I want to pass by to greet you all”, the Pope confessed to the Slovak pilgrims, but the sincere greetings from here. “I pray for you, for your families, for your noble people,” he added.
Francis, sitting while receiving pilgrims (Photo / Gregorio Borgia)
All right, courage. And I beg you Pray for me“, the Argentine closed.
In recent days, he has had to suspend or sit back at ceremonies, remaining seated. He was absent from one of the meetings of the Council of Cardinals, which met for three days at the Vatican Apostolic Palace and suspended the audience, including Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero.
On Wednesday, his arrival at the open-air general audience in San Pedro was a test. As he said Clarion From Rome, he was seen struggling to get out of the open car in the tabernacle of the basilica and walking leaning on the arm offered by Father Leonardo Sapiensa, Regent of the Pontifical Household, towards the audience box.
What is on Pope Francis ’knee?
Francisco suffers from gonarthrosis, that is, osteoarthritis of the right knee. It caused him so much pain that for some time they forced him to change his schedule. He recently underwent specific medical check-ups, where his medical team advised him to have surgery.
Is about a ruptured ligament in the right knee because of the posture and ambulation of the Pope who is ashamed of an old ailment: the inflammation of the sciatic nerve that condemns him to be limp and to have suffered crises and severe pain.
Acute osteoarthritis of the knee is caused irreversible degeneration of cartilage. Pope said on several occasions that doctors explained to him that relief could be slow but “you have to be patient.”
This is how Francisco retreated to his event on Saturday. (Photo by Reuters/Remo Casilli)
“I have this knee problem that causes walking problems, it’s a bit annoying, but it’s getting better, and at least I can walk. Two weeks ago I couldn’t do anything. It’s a bit slow, let’s see if it goes back to how. Before, but with doubt. At age that it doesn’t know how the game will end, I hope it goes well “He said in January of this year.
At the time, Francisco explained for the first time that he had an inflamed ligament in his knee that forced him to reduce his movements, although he described the illness as “something temporary.” “I was told it only happens to the elderly, so I don’t know why it happened to me,” the pontiff told the General Audience at the Vatican.
Francis turned 85 in December and was in good general health, after the surgery he underwent on July 4 at Gemelli Hospital in Rome to remove 30 centimeters of the large intestine due to infection of the diverticula.
Source: ANSA and Télam.
LGP
Source: Clarin
