Pope Francis Told to Sit Out Ceremonies Because of Knee Pain

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ROME — Pope Francis has deserted plans for a visit to Florence this weekend and will probably be unable to preside over Ash Wednesday providers subsequent week due to acute knee ache, the Vatican stated on Friday.

The pope’s physician had “prescribed a interval of better relaxation for the leg” due to “acute gonalgia,” or knee ache, the Vatican defined in a word.

The word didn’t specify whether or not the issue associated to Francis’s earlier difficulties with sciatica, a power nerve situation that causes, again, hip and leg ache, makes him stroll with a limp, and has compelled him to cancel or modify high-profile appearances prior to now.

That situation, which Francis, 85, has known as his “troublesome visitor,” additionally makes it troublesome for him to face for lengthy intervals.

Francis was hospitalized for surgical procedure in July to take away a part of his colon, however he’s usually thought of to be in good well being. The flare-up means, nevertheless, that he is not going to take part in a gathering in Florence on Sunday with bishops and mayors from the Mediterranean area, nor will he preside over the Ash Wednesday providers that begin the interval of Lent.

In latest weeks, Francis had complained of an irritation of the ligament in his proper knee. At one basic viewers final month, he apologized to the devoted after informing them that he wouldn’t be capable to transfer amongst them to carry his private greetings.

The issue was “short-term,” he stated, including with a smile: “They are saying this solely occurs to previous individuals, and I don’t know why it occurred to me.”

Just a few days earlier, he apologized throughout one other viewers that he must stay seated. “My leg hurts, and it’s worse if I stay standing,” he stated.

The sciatica compelled Francis to skip New 12 months’s Mass somewhat greater than a 12 months in the past, and Francis attended a vespers service this previous New 12 months’s Eve, however he didn’t preside over it as initially scheduled.

The knee ache, nevertheless troublesome, didn’t cease him from visiting the Russian ambassador to the Holy See on Friday morning “to specific concern for the struggle” after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in accordance with the Vatican press workplace. The Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed that Francis spent greater than half an hour with the ambassador, Alexander Avdeev.

And the pope can be planning to go farther afield. On Friday, the Vatican launched his itinerary for a go to to Malta in early April.

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