The 84-year-old pope cannot stand during Friday’s hearing as he continues to struggle with “annoying” sciatica.
- The pope spoke Friday at the opening of the judicial year of the Holy See
- He remained seated throughout and said his sciatica was an “annoying guest.”
- The pontiff had to cancel a number of recent events due to ill health
Pope Francis apologized for sitting in the audience on Friday, while he blamed the “annoying” sciatica that led him to cancel a series of events.
“I would like to speak to you standing up, but sciatica is an annoying guest,” he told the 84-year-old member of Rota Romana, a top Catholic Church tribunal.
“So, I apologize and I will sit down,” he added at the meeting marking the opening of the judicial year of the Holy See.
Pope Francis apologized for sitting in audience on Friday, while blaming his “annoying” sciatica
The Argentine pontiff was forced to delegate two masses on Sunday and Monday and to postpone his New Year’s greeting
The Argentine pontiff was forced to delegate two services on Sunday and Monday and to postpone his New Year’s greeting on Monday for ambassadors to the Holy See due to a sciatica crisis.
He also jumped over the New Year’s masses at St. Peter’s Basilica as a result of a chronic nervous condition that causes pain in his hip and for which he wears orthopedic shoes.
However, he led the Angelus prayer on Sunday at noon, as scheduled.
Returning from a trip to Brazil in 2013, the pope told reporters that he suffered a sciatica crisis in the weeks after he was elected head of the Catholic Church earlier that year.
He also skipped New Year’s masses at St. Peter’s Basilica due to chronic nervous breakdown.
Pope goes on a slight limp due to sciatica, but has had a generally healthy life
“The worst thing that happened – excuse me – was a sciatica attack – indeed! – that I had my first month, because I was sitting in an armchair to do interviews and it hurt me ‘, he said when asked about the time spent in the office so far.
‘Sciatica is very painful, very painful! I don’t want anyone! ‘
The pope walks with a slight limp due to sciatica, but has had a generally healthy life, despite the fact that part of his lung was removed when he was young after he developed pleurisy.
He received the coronavirus vaccine earlier this month along with his predecessor, former Pope Benedict XVI, who lives in a converted monastery in the Vatican gardens.