Pope Francis says he could consider ‘stepping aside’ if health worsens

Pope Francis speaks to journalists aboard the papal flight back from Canada (Picture: AP)

Pope Francis has acknowledged he may one day need to resign if serious health problems prohibit him from being able to run the church.

He made the comments at the end of a trip to Canada in which he apologised to indigenous people over the abuse at Catholic-run schools and likened their treatment to a cultural ‘genocide’.

Speaking to reporters on the papal flight back to Rome, the 85-year-old said: ‘It’s not strange. It’s not a catastrophe. You can change the pope.’

Francis said that while he has not considered resigning before now, he realises he has to at least slow down.

He added: ‘I think at my age and with these limitations, I have to save my energy to be able to serve the church, or on the contrary, think about the possibility of stepping aside.’

This penitential pilgrimage was difficult for Francis, and featured several moments when he was clearly in pain as he changed from seating to standing.

He used a wheelchair, walker and cane to get around, sharply limiting his programme and ability to mingle with crowds.

Francis goes to pray by the remains of Saint Francois De Laval after presiding over a Vespers service at the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre Dame de Quebec (Picture: AP)

The pope wears a traditional headdress he was given after his apology to Indigenous people during a ceremony in Maskwacis, Alberta (Picture: AP)

The Argentine pontiff strained his right knee ligaments earlier this year, and continuing laser and magnetic therapy forced him to cancel a trip to Africa that was scheduled for the first week of July’.

‘I don’t think I can continue doing trips with the same rhythm as before,’ he said.

‘I’ll try to continue to do the trips and be close to people because I think it’s a way of servicing, being close. But more than this, I can’t say.’

In an interview with Reuters earlier this month, Francis said he had no intention of stepping down any time soon.

But he has also suggested he could one day follow in the footsteps of the now-Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who became the first pope in 600 years to resign the papacy.

Francis told reporters ‘you can change the pope’ (Picture: AP)

Francis told reporters on the return flight: ‘This, with all honesty, is not a catastrophe. There can be a change of popes, there is no problem with that.

‘The door is open. It is one of the normal options. Up until today, I did not use that door.

‘I did not think it was necessary to think of this possibility but that does not mean that the day after tomorrow I don’t start thinking about it.

‘This trip was a bit of a test. It is true that I can’t make trips in this condition. Maybe the style has to change, make fewer trips, make the trips I have promised to make, re-jig things.

‘But it will be the Lord who decides. The door is open.’

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