Pope Francis canceled his trip to Africa due to knee problems that force him to move in a wheelchair

Pope Francis had to postpone his announced trip to Africa, where he would have visited the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, from 2 to 7 July, due to persistent pain in his knee, which has forced him to attend the hearings in recent weeks. in a wheelchair.

“Accepting the doctors’ request, and in order not to jeopardize the results of the knee therapy still in progress, the Holy Father, bitterly, he is forced to postpone his apostolic journeyin Africa, the director of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni, informed. The Holy See now manages the option for the trip to take place in November.

Bruni explained that doctors told Francisco that he already has improvements in his knee, but that “with excessive effort he runs the risk of returning to the previous situation and, above all, of not improving anymore”.

The therapies that the Pope carries out for the knee pain that affects him are infiltrations, physiotherapy and, above all, to rest the knee with the wheelchair and would already be able to at least reduce the pain

There is no talk of an operationsince the Pope said, in a closed-door meeting with the Italian bishops, that he does not want to undergo an intervention and that he would resign first.

Francis stirs up ghosts of resignation

A new version of what the Pope said to the Italian bishops, who met last May 23 to elect a new president of their Episcopal Assembly, has once again aroused the ghosts of resignation due to health problems.

“Before being operated on, I resign!”, Said Francisco. The known version was different. “I don’t want to undergo surgery because the anesthesia they gave me during the operation influenced me a lot.” He was referring to the three-hour surgery in which the surgeons of the Gemelli in Rome removed 30 centimeters of his large intestine due to infectious diverticulitis.

According to Vatican sources, the sentence that triggered the new wave of journalistic versions was said in a joking tone. But no one denied that the phrase existed.

Less than a year passed after the colon operation. And since the first version revealed that the Pope himself said he did not want to operate for fear of the effects he suffered from the anesthesia, the speculation did not stop.