This year, the Pope plans to visit two more countries.
Pope Francis does not give up hope to visit Kyiv this year. The pontiff shared his plans at the end of his apostolic visit to Canada.
The Pope admitted that he may withdraw from work due to a knee problem, which prevents him from traveling for a long time.
“I have already said that I want to go to Ukraine. We will see what I find when I return home. Now I would also like to go to Kazakhstan, because it is a simple trip, without excessive traffic, because it is about a congress of religions. For now, it remains in the plans.” – said Pope Francis, reports VaticanNews.
According to him, he would also like to go to Kazakhstan, South Sudan and Congo (next year).
Confirming his intention to go to Ukraine and desire to take part in an interreligious meeting in Kazakhstan, the Pope reminded that he should also go to South Sudan, as well as to Congo, already next year, because the rainy season has begun. “I have all the good will, but we'll see what the leg says,” he added.
This is not the first time that Francis has raised the issue of following the example of his predecessor Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 due to ill health and now lives quietly in the Vatican.
In 2014, a year after before he became pope, Francis told reporters that if his health prevented him from serving as pope, he would consider resigning.
In May, Italian media reported, Francis joked about his knee during meetings with bishops behind closed doors, saying: “Rather than operate, I will resign.”
“The door is open, that's one of the normal options, but I haven't knocked on that door yet.” he said on Saturday.
Earlier, Pope Francis personally came to the Russian embassy in the Vatican to express his concern about the war that the Russian Federation has unleashed in Ukraine.
< p>Read about the relations between the Vatican and Moscow, as well as how the Pope is going to deliver a double blow on the “Ukrainian issue” in materials of Kateryna Shchetkina “Map of Rome”.
