Pope says pilgrimage was ‘a bit of a test’ and that at 85 he has ‘to think about possibility of stepping aside’
Pope Francis has said that he can no longer travel like he used to because of his strained knee ligaments, saying his week-long Canadian pilgrimage was “a bit of a test” that showed he needed to slow down and one day possibly retire.
It was not the first time Francis has said that – should his health require it – he could follow his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who made history in 2013 by stepping down due to declining physical and mental health.He strained his right knee ligaments earlier this year, and continuing laser and magnetic therapy forced him to cancel a trip to Africa that was scheduled for the first week of July.
“I’ll try to continue to do the trips and be close to people because I think it’s a way of servicing, being close. But more than this, I can’t say,” he said on Saturday.During his six-day “penitential pilgrimage” across Canada this week, the popeto the First Nations, Metis and Inuit people, who have been waiting for years for such an acknowledgment from the head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.
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