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Pope Francis has brushed off a ‘hurricane’ of resignation rumours circulating in various media outlets recently.
In a 90-minute interview on Spanish radio, his first since undergoing colon surgery, the pope spoke on various topics, but, it was the resignation rumours that garnered much attention.
“I don’t know where they got it from last week that I was going to resign. It didn’t even cross my mind,” Francis told Carlos Herrera on Radio COPE.
Pope Francis said that whenever a pontiff is sick, “there’s a breeze, or a hurricane” regarding a new papal election.
During the interview, Francis revealed that a nurse, “a very experienced man” who has worked at the Vatican’s health service for 30 years, “saved my life.”
Francis underwent surgery 0n July 4 “for severe diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis”. Part of his colon was removed and he was hospitalised for 10 days.
The pope said the nurse told him that he needed surgery even when others advocated that it was “better [to treat it] with antibiotics”. Nevertheless, he took the nurse’s advice.
Italian media identified the nurse as Massimiliano Strappetti, 52, who trained and worked at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome before moving to the Vatican.
In the interview, Francis said, “the diverticula” can “become deformed, necrotic, but thank God it was taken in time.”
“It is the second time in my life that a nurse has saved my life”, the pontiff remarked.
The first time took place in Argentina in 1957 when the pope was a young seminarian hospitalised with pneumonia. An Italian nun, defying the doctor’s orders, decided to change the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s medication.
In recent public appearances, the pope seemed fully recovered. He also has plans to travel to Budapest, Bratislava and Glasgow before the end of the year.
However, in a recent audience with Catholic legislators, he began his speech by apologising that he would remain seated while reading his speech. Pope Francis explained that he is still recovering from his surgery.
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News category: World.
