A melancholy Pope Francis spoke of old age: “One cannot dream of hope in a future that appears non-existent”

In the general audience on Wednesday, the Pope spoke again about old age and some of his reflections resounded at the same time serene and melancholy because he talked about himself. “When you are old you have to be patient with your own body and understand that you can still ask for it,” she said.

It was a particularly significant catechesis on the biblical vein of the elderly. «The Pope is speaking with heart in hand“, Said a nun listening to him explain the limits of old age: the sensations from the departing forces and the presence of continuous disturbances.

Francis commented on the biblical episode of Jesus’ visit to Simon’s mother-in-law, sick with the flu. He said it in old age “Even a flu can become a serious event.”

“When you get older you no longer command your own body. You need to learn how to choose what to do and what not to do. Physical vigor fails and abandons us ”, said the Argentine Pope.

“You must learn to purify desire. Be patient, choose what to ask of the body and life. Now that we’re old, we can’t do the same things young people do, we all have limitations. I also have to walk with the caneHe added without mentioning that he has been moving for almost a month in a wheelchair for the ailment in his right knee.

Old age “is like a blow that comes at an already difficult time,” he said.

“The old man’s illness seems to hasten death and somehow reduce the life span that we already consider short”

Pope francesco

“The old man’s illness seems to hasten death and somehow shorten the life span, which we already consider short,” he continued.

“Doubt arises we will not recover, this time is the last time I get sick. It is not possible to dream of hope a future that seems non-existent“Said Francis” speaking from the heart “, as the faithful nun present at the general audience said.

The Pope invited Catholics to “Do not discard and set aside the elderly of the scene of the events that mark the life of the community “.

Francesco will be 86 years old On 17 December and 13 March 2023 he will celebrate a decade of his pontificate.

The serious problems that many elderly people suffer from for the Pope began on July 4 last year, when he was operated on at the Gemelli hospital of the Catholic University of Rome for an infection of the diverticula, small bags that form in the large intestine.

Surgeons removed 33 centimeters of intestine. Francisco now does not want to have knee surgery reportedly due to the anesthesia he received in the surgery it made him feel bad. It is not known how long this complication lasted.

The doctors recommended the operation, which takes about an hour, to treat knee osteoarthritis by inserting a prosthesis, perhaps even inserting a new patella. Then there would be a rehabilitation that takes about a month.

The alternative is to keep going some infiltrations of anti-inflammatories administered by an orthopedist, in addition to two hours of recovery physiotherapy per day.

The Pope moves in a wheelchair allows you to rest your diseased leg and he feels better because he no longer suffers from sharp pains. He is in good healthbeyond the problems of posture and walking, which are also affected by painful inflammation of the sciatic nerve and problems in the right hip, where in 1994 a prosthesis was placed in Buenos Aires.

The Pope believes it soon you will be able to stand on your feet smoothly and then you can walk. But his agenda is unknown: every now and then you have to cancel your leading role in the most important ceremonies. Furthermore, she had to postpone his trips to Lebanon, the Republic of the Congo and South Sudan without dates. I am to see the apostolic trip to Canada in July and the trip to Kazakhstan in September.

For a Pope, travel “to the existential frontiers of the Church” They are very important.

Vatican correspondent

ap