– I don’t think I can continue traveling to the same extent as before, said the 85-year-old Pope when he was on his way home to the Vatican on Saturday after finishing a six-day visit to Canada.
There he has had to resort to the wheelchair several times due to problems with a knee.
– I think that at my age and with this limitation I have to hold back a bit in order to be able to serve the church. Alternatively, I am thinking about the possibility of resigning, the Pope continued.
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Benedikt went ahead
It is not the first time that the Pope has mentioned that he may want to step down, following the example of his predecessor Benedict XVI.
He stepped down in 2013 due to failing health and now lives a quiet life in the Vatican. It was the first time a pope had resigned since the Middle Ages, and the decision sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church.
Already the following year, in 2014, Pope Francis said that if he had health problems, he would consider stepping down. And in May this year, according to the Italian media, he should have jokingly said that he would rather retire than operate on his knee. The statement is said to have come in a closed meeting with the bishops.
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– Normally
On Saturday, he described a possible departure as a “normal choice”.
– But until now I have not knocked on this door. But that doesn’t mean I won’t start thinking about it the day after tomorrow, right? But right now I’m not thinking about it, he said.
He called the trip to Canada a kind of test and admitted that it was really too demanding for a man in his condition and that it is time to change his style.
During his visit to Canada, the Pope asked for forgiveness for the injustice that Catholic-run schools have committed against the country’s indigenous population in connection with the forced transfer of thousands of children to boarding schools.
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– Genocide
On the flight home, he called the treatment of the indigenous population a genocide.
– I didn’t say the word in Canada because I couldn’t think of it, but I described the genocide. And I asked for forgiveness for this process, which was a genocide, the Pope told reporters accompanying him on the trip.
