Pope Francis’ health: A CNA timeline

Hannah Brockhaus   By Hannah Brockhaus for CNA

 

Pope Francis enters the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall in a wheelchair on May 5, 2022. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Vatican City, May 21, 2022 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has been speaking about his health in recent weeks, especially a problem with his knee that is forcing him to walk and stand less.

The 85-year-old Francis, who has spent most of his nine years as pope in relatively good health, has dealt with several painful medical conditions over the last few years.

His difficulties have included a stay of more than a week in a hospital after colon surgery in 2021.

Here is a CNA timeline charting Pope Francis’ recent health concerns:

December 2020

A bout of sciatic pain in the final days of 2020 kept Pope Francis from presiding at the Vatican’s liturgies on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Francis has suffered from sciatica for a number of years; He spoke about it during an in-flight press conference returning from a trip to Brazil in July 2013.

“Sciatica is very painful, very painful! I don’t wish it on anyone,” he said about the condition, which starts in the lower back and can cause pain running down the back of the thigh and leg to the foot.

January 2021

Pope Francis was also forced to cancel three more public appearances at the end of January due to sciatic nerve pain.

July 2021

A problem with his colon landed the pope in hospital on July 4, 2021.

According to the Vatican, Francis underwent surgery to relieve stricture of the colon caused by diverticulitis. The three-hour surgery included a left hemicolectomy, the removal of one side of the colon.

During his 11-day stay in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, the pope made “normal clinical progress” in his recovery, the Vatican said.

January 2022

At meetings in January, Pope Francis shared that he was having problems with his knee.

“Excuse me if I stay seated, but I have a pain in my leg today … It hurts me, it hurts if I’m standing,” the pope told journalists from the Jerusalem-based Christian Media Center on Jan. 17.

He explained further at a general audience the following week, saying the reason he would be unable to greet pilgrims as usual was because of a temporary “problem with my right leg,” an inflamed knee ligament.

February 2022

At the end of February, Pope Francis canceled two public events due to knee pain and doctor’s orders to rest.

In the month that followed, he received help going up and down stairs, but continued to walk and stand without assistance.

April 2022

During a trip to Malta on the first weekend of April, Pope Francis used a lift to disembark the papal plane. A special lift was also installed at the Basilica of St. Paul in Rabat, so that Francis could visit and pray in the crypt grotto without taking the stairs.

On the return flight on April 3, he told journalists that “my health is a bit fickle, I have this knee problem that brings out problems with walking.”

At the Vatican’s Good Friday service, the pope did not lay prostrate before the altar, as he has done in the past.

He also did not preside over the Easter Vigil Mass on April 16, or participate in the Paschal candle procession, but sat in the front of the congregation in a white chair.

On April 22 and April 26, Francis’ agenda was cleared for medical checkups and rest for his knee, the Vatican said. The following day, the pope told pilgrims at his general audience that his knee prevented him from standing for very long.

Pope Francis also started to remain seated in the popemobile while greeting pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.

On April 30, he said that his doctor had ordered him not to walk.

May 2022

The pope said at the beginning of May that he would undergo a medical procedure on his knee, “an intervention with infiltrations,” by which he may have meant a therapeutic injection, sometimes used to relieve knee pain caused by ligament tears.

Two days later, he used a wheelchair in public for the first time since his July 2021 colon surgery. Throughout May he has continued to use the wheelchair and avoid most standing and walking.

Pope Francis’ general audience in St. Peter’s Square, May 18, 2022. Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Pope Francis’ general audience in St. Peter’s Square, May 18, 2022. Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Francis is also undergoing over two hours of rehabilitation for his knee every day, according to an Argentine archbishop close to the pontiff.

The treatment “is giving results,” Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández wrote on Twitter on May 14, after he had a private meeting with Francis.

Other than his knee, “he’s better than ever,” Fernández added.

A few earlier, Lebanon’s tourism minister had said that a reported papal visit to the country in June was being postponed due to the pope’s health.

The pope did stand for longer periods when celebrating a May 15 Mass in St. Peter’s Square. Afterward, a seminarian from Mexico caught a moment of lightheartedness between pilgrims and the pope as he greeted them from the popemobile.

Someone thanked the pope for being present at the Mass, despite his knee pain, to which Francis responded: “Do you know what I need for my knee? A bit of tequila.”


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2 Comments

  1. The Holy Father in jokingly mentioning the tequila might have intended more than expressing his oneness with the culture – he might have desired to share the reported medicinal effects of tequila , surprisingly enough articles on line about its effects in reducing inflammation , helping in bone health , weight issues .. inflammation and its role in making it difficult to lose weight might be true for the Holy Father ; there are also saintly souls who take in very little calories yet mysteriously keep a good weight – as was for St.Padre Pio .

    Hope his doctors have looked into the simple yet useful remedies that can help – including Magnesium supplements , critical in bone health , extra b12 as chewable since low levels can weaken ligaments and cartilage ( older persons may not absorb same from the gut if swallowed ) even simple baking soda to help with inflammation – may be Santa Marta have couple of angelic nuns who can make a little paste of Magnesium chloride flakes and baking soda in warm water, using same for warm compresses without having to await clearances …
    Then again, The Spirit may not want him traveling around much these days ..Mama and St.Joseph could have interceded – in a mission similar to the occasion when they return to the temple to rescue The Lord from the temple authorities who were feeling threatened around him ( Bl.Emmerich )
    The tequila remark might also have been his way of blessing the country to make good use of resources to thus move away from the drug culture and such too .

    Glad too that the remark has not been thrown around to make same an occasion
    of …….well .. 🙂

  2. Pope Francis is serving humanity with dedication and courage. May the Holy Father be blessed with good health. God bless.

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