Pope Francis cancels his trip to Congo and South Sudan due to knee problems

Pope Francis has cancelled a planned July trip to Africa on doctors' advise due to ongoing knee problems, the Vatican announced on June 10. The trip to Congo and South Sudan slated for July 2-7 will be postponed "to a later date to be determined".

"At the request of his doctors, and in order not to jeopardise the results of the therapy that he is undergoing for his knee, the Holy Father has been forced to postpone, with regret, his Apostolic Journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo and to South Sudan," the Vatican said in a statement.

Francis has been confined to a wheelchair for the past month due to torn ligaments in his right knee, which make walking and standing difficult and uncomfortable. He has so far resisted surgery, opting instead for injections, keeping the knee as immobile as possible, and walking with a cane or with the assistance of an attendant.

For months, there had been doubts about Francis' capacity to manage the Africa trip, which would have been difficult even if he hadn't suffered the knee problems. Even as recently as this week, the Vatican was preparing to provide the names of accredited journalists scheduled to fly aboard the papal plane. Francis was scheduled to travel to South Sudan with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the leader of the Church of Scotland to make an ecumenical peace appeal.

Francis is also scheduled to visit Canada

A trip like this had been discussed as early as 2017, but it was repeatedly postponed due to security concerns. Thousands of posters bearing Francis' image have already been set up in the eastern city of Goma, where Francis was scheduled to spend the day on July 4. Francis is also scheduled to visit Canada from July 24 to 30, according to a Vatican statement released on June 10. However, Matteo Bruni, a Vatican spokesman, only announced that the pope's other engagements had been confirmed.

The pope has reportedly told acquaintances that he does not want to have knee surgery due to his sensitivity to anaesthesia when he had 33 centimetres (13 inches) of his large intestine removed in July 2021. Because of Francis' knee ailments, his decision to create 16 new voting-age cardinals in August, and his plans to pay respect to a 13th-century pope who resigned, Celestine V, speculation has swirled over the pontificate's destiny.

Image: AP