As rumors of ill health and a future resignation swirl around the Vatican, Pope Francis himself denied on Sunday that he will be resigning anytime soon, and gave further updates about his health and future plans.
The rumors of a potential resignation from Pope Francis have come after he canceled his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, as well as meetings with cardinals around the world regarding a new Vatican constitution and an induction of new cardinals on August, according to Reuters.
In spite of those rumors, Francis has held that he would not be resigning anytime soon, and gave further details about his current recovery from a knee fracture that forced him to be unable to attend to the aftermentioned African countries in April, the New York Daily News reported.
“All of these coincidences made some think that the same 'liturgy' would happen,” he said. “But it never entered my mind. For the moment no, for the moment, no. Really!”
He described his knee injury even further, saying that the doctors advised him not to go to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan and instead undergo 20 days of therapy for his knee as well as a lot of rest to help him recover.
“I am well, I am slowly getting better,” he said, before dismissing cancer rumors as “court gossip.”
Pope Francis then detailed plans some of his planned foreign trips for the year, including one where he goes to Canada in July, as well as an attempted trip to Kyiv and Moscow in order to help de-escalate the current Russia-Ukraine war.
“I would like to go (to Ukraine), and I wanted to go to Moscow first. We exchanged messages about this because I thought that if the Russian president gave me a small window to serve the cause of peace,” he said.
“And now it is possible, after I come back from Canada, it is possible that I manage to go to Ukraine. The first thing is to go to Russia to try to help in some way, but I would like to go to both capitals.”
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