Pope Francis Denies Resignation Reports; Wants To Visit Moscow, Kyiv

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

VATICAN CITY (Worthy News) – Pope Francis says he will not resign soon despite several ailments, and he hopes to visit Kyiv and Moscow soon as part of a peace initiative.

In comments published by Reuters news agency Monday, the leader of some 1 billion Catholics also said he will visit Canada this month after canceling trips to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

Francis, 85, cited his knee condition as the main reason for not traveling to Africa, but he denied reports that he had cancer, joking that his doctors “didn’t tell me anything about it.”

Asked about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling establishing a woman’s right to have an abortion, Francis said he respected the decision.

He strongly condemned abortion, comparing it to “hiring a hit man.” The Catholic Church teaches that life begins at the moment of conception. “I ask: Is it legitimate, is it right, to eliminate a human life to resolve a problem?” the pope wondered.

He frail Francis then gave details of his ailment for the first time in public, saying he had suffered “a small fracture” in the knee when he took a misstep while a ligament was inflamed.

“I am well; I am slowly getting better,” he said, adding that the fracture was knitting, helped by laser and magnet therapy.

Asked how he was, the pope joked: “I’m still alive!”

Francis used a cane as he walked into a reception room on the ground floor of the Santa Marta guest house where he has lived since his election in 2013, video footage showed.

He has been eschewing the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace used by his predecessors.

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