His predecessor did – will Pope Francis resign too? “The door is open,” says the 85-year-old. He’s not thinking about it at the moment, but could start the day after tomorrow. After the most recent trip, it is also clear to him: He has to take it easy.
Pope Francis does not consider a resignation as head of the Catholic Church to be out of the question. “The door is open. It’s a completely normal option,” said the 85-year-old on the return flight to Rome from his trip to Canada. He’s not thinking about resigning at the moment, but that doesn’t mean he can’t start the day after tomorrow, he said.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as Francis is called in civil society, also addressed his state of health. For the past six days, he has been unable to take a few steps and has been confined to a wheelchair most of the time. The Pope has been plagued by a knee injury for a long time.
“I don’t think I can continue to travel at the same pace as before. When I think about my age and my limitations, I have to take it easy,” he said. His knee problem could be solved with an operation, but Francis does not want to go under the knife again after the last operation on his colon a little over a year ago. “The whole problem is the anesthesia,” he explained. This left its mark the last time until today. “You don’t play with anesthesia,” said the 85-year-old.
In his own words, Francis still wants to continue to travel. You just have to plan them a little smaller. In Canada, he has been visiting indigenous people since Sunday to ask forgiveness for the violence and abuse they suffered as children in church-run boarding schools.
On the return flight from Canada, the Pope also commented on the treatment of the indigenous people at church-run boarding schools and spoke of genocide. “It’s true. This is genocide,” said the head of the Catholic Church. The Pope was responding to criticism from Canadian indigenous people. They were upset because Francis had not labeled the actions of church officials as cultural genocide.
This was the assessment of the final report of the state-appointed Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, which dealt with decades of abuse and violence at the boarding schools run by the church. Now only genocide is spoken of.
“True, the word was not used, but I described the genocide and I asked for apologies and forgiveness,” Francis said. Genocide is a technical term, but he didn’t use it because it hadn’t occurred to him. Francis has been visiting indigenous people in Canada since last Sunday to ask forgiveness for decades of humiliation, abuse and violence in the facilities.
Just over a year ago, the discovery of more than 200 anonymous children’s graves near the boarding schools drew international attention to the fate of the indigenous people. Francis was already asking for forgiveness when representatives of the Métis, First Nations and Inuit visited him at the Vatican at the end of March. But they wanted the Pope to apologize on their property in Canada.
