“The Pope is fine and is not thinking at all about resigning”

Amid speculations about a possible resignation of Pope Francis, his former spokesman when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, Father Guillermo Marcó, after visiting him this weekend, came out to say that “beyond his knee problem, that is in full process of improvement, the Pope is fine and in no way is he thinking of quitting”, Said Father Guillermo Marcó, former spokesman for the then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, after his meeting with the pontiff.

“You are more lucid than ever, I was shocked to see you so happy despite the limits you are pushing through with mental strength and treatment. Thank you for giving me an hour and a half of your precious and scarce time the next day. We have been dad for a while”, Wrote the priest on his social networks.

In dialogue with ClarioneMarcó claimed to have done so “A long conversation” with Francis, an occasion in which he was able to verify that he was “in an excellent mood, super attentive and energetically guiding the Church”, for which – he affirmed – the versions about his eventual dismissal “lack foundation”.

Regarding the suspension of a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, scheduled for early July, Marcó said it was due to “compliance with the doctors’ recommendations so as not to jeopardize the frank healing process of his knee“.

Pain

“The Pope continues with his activity to the extent that he requests it they do not affect kinesiological therapy which he is following – including infiltrations – and, among other things, continues to do a lot, beyond the suspension of long and always very demanding journeys ”, he concluded.

Francisco is suffering from pain in his knee due to a bone that presses on the ligamentswho in recent weeks has determined that he had to move in a wheelchair and that doctors advised him not to force his leg until he was fully recovered.

Speculation about the resignation has skyrocketed after it was learned last week that days earlier, before the Italian bishops, he had claimed that “Before the surgery I resign”in an allusion to the operation he should undergo as the quickest way to recover.

Beyond the Pope’s expression – “a beautiful exit”, according to those close to him -, the truth is that Francis I don’t want to undergo anesthesia again after, apparently, he didn’t like what he was applied last year when he was operated on for diverticula on his colon.

speculations

The suspension of the trip to Africa, announced on Thursday, has also fueled speculation, as Francis has summoned all the cardinals of the world by the end of August to create 21 new and initiate a profound reform of the Roman Curia.

However, what caught the most attention was that Francis will also visit the city of L’Aquila, near Rome, towards the end of August, where the tomb of Pope Celestine V is located. the pontiff who has resigned in 1294.

It is that Benedict XVI, before announcing his historic resignation, also went to Aquila to pay homage to Celestino V and thus followed in his footsteps more than 700 years later.

PB