Pope Francis Considers Retiring, Acknowledges Being Unable To Travel Anymore Due to Strained Knee Ligaments

Pope Francis described the trip as a "test" that included a 10-hour trip across the Atlantic, an eight-hour time difference, and nine talks in five different Canadian cities.

It was a lot for the 85-year-old pope who can hardly walk by himself due to severe knee pain.

Retiring is a "Normal Option," Says Pope Francis

Thinking about retiring, according to him, is a "normal option." That reflected other remarks he had made in which he stated that if his health prevented him from leading the church, he would be willing to retire.

Pope Francis saw both periods of sturdiness and vulnerability throughout his six days in Canada. Despite his jet lag, he consistently gave speeches and relished moments of obvious humor, including when he requested a detour from his wheelchair to approach a throng outside of a church, according to Washington Post.

But he also had to deal with constraints that were very different from those of his early pontificate. He was wheeled to the edge of a wooden pathway that led to a cemetery as he was visiting an Indigenous village on the plains of Alberta and making an apology for the cruelty of Canada's residential school system. He was unable to maneuver amid the burial markers, which were all placed on grass.

Pope Francis has been quite healthy for the majority of his papacy, but during the past 18 months, he has had agonizing sciatica flare-ups, had colon surgery, and most recently, knee inflammation that has virtually rendered him wheelchair-dependent.

He has had to rethink his hands-on approach to becoming pope because to his decreased mobility. Before his voyage to Canada, he lamented how difficult it was for him to fit in with large groups of pilgrims as he formerly did.

The pope stated that native peoples' forced absorption into Christian civilization ruined their customs and split their families when on a visit to Canada while donning an indigenous feathered headdress.

"With shame and regret, I humbly seek pardon for the atrocity done by so many Christians against the indigenous peoples," he said in apology for Christians' backing of the "colonising mentality" of the time, Sky News reported.

From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 native children in Canada were compelled to attend state-funded Christian schools in an effort to separate them from the influence of their families and cultures and "Christianize" and integrate them into mainstream society.

Pope Francis Seen in Pain During Trip in Canada

Following his first trip, during which he was forced to use a wheelchair, walker, and cane to get around, severely restricting his schedule and his capacity to interact with audiences, Pope Francis was barraged with inquiries regarding the course of his pontificate.

He had injured the ligaments in his right knee earlier this year, and as he was still receiving laser and magnetic therapy, he had to postpone his trip to Africa, which was supposed to take place the first week of July. The travel to Canada was challenging, and there were multiple times when Pope Francis was visibly in pain as he struggled to get up and down from seats.

Despite spending a long day Friday driving to the edge of the Arctic to once again apologize to Indigenous peoples for the abuses they endured in Canada's church-run residential schools, he seemed upbeat and energized at the conclusion of his six-day journey.

Per CBS News, Pope Francis decided against having surgery on his knee because he felt it wouldn't necessarily be beneficial and because "there are still remnants" of the effects of the more than six hours of anesthesia he had to endure to have 13 inches of his large intestine removed in July 2021.