Don’t cry for him Argentina, but Pope Francis expects him to die in Rome.
“I will not return to Argentina.” The 84-year-old pontiff told Argentine journalist and doctor Nelson Castro, who published a book on Monday about the health of recent popes, going back to Leo XIII, who led Roman Catholics around the world between 1878 and 1903.
Pope Francis told Castro he was thinking about death, but when asked if he feared death, he said, “Absolutely not,” according to America magazine, a publication of the pope’s religious order, the Jesuits.
Francis also told Castro that he expected to die “in Rome, as pope or emeritus.” He also said that he will be buried in the Eternal City and will not return to be buried in Buenos Aires, where he spent most of his life.
The pope has recently suffered from sciatica attacks that make it difficult for him to stand, causing some concern among believers. He skipped several services around the New Year due to hip pain caused by the chronic condition.
Francis told Castro about his experience with removing cysts from the upper lobe of his right lung in 1957, when he was 21 years old. He said he “never felt any limitation” to the condition after recovering from the operation, which some people falsely believe led to the removal of his entire lung.
He also discussed his weekly visits to a psychologist in the 1970s, when he talked about helping people escape Argentina’s military dictatorship, and she helped him cope with the tensions and fears he was experiencing at the time. . Sometimes he still suffers from what he called “neurotic anxiety”, which he deals with by listening to Bach or sipping “partner”, a popular drink of Argentine herbs.
Francis, along with former Pope Benedict, received the COVID-19 vaccine in January.