Doctors have prescribed a wheelchair, cane and physical therapy to help heal Pope Francis’ bad knee
ROME — Doctors have prescribed a wheelchair, cane and physical therapy to help heal Pope Francis’ bad knee. He has other ideas.
According to a viral video from the Pope at the end of a recent audience, Francis joked that what he really needs for the pain is a shot of tequila.
Francis was driving the Popemobile in St. Peter’s Square when he stopped by a group of Mexican seminarians from the Legion of Christ who asked him in his native Spanish how his knee was doing. After he replied that it was “fickle,” they told Francis that they admired his ability to smile despite the pain, and that he was an example for future priests like them.
“You know what I need for my knee?” Francis asked them from the Popemobile. “Some tequila.” The seminarians laughed and promised to deliver a bottle to the Santa Marta hotel where Francis lives.
The 85-year-old Argentine pope has suffered from strained ligaments in his right knee for months and recently uses a wheelchair and a cane to get around on a doctor’s prescription so he can let it heal.
The limitations on his mobility have sparked a predictable round of media speculation about his health and a future conclave, but a close associate recently said the Pope is “better than ever” and undergoes two hours of physical therapy a day.
“He is in very good health and has the same bright reflection as always,” Bishop Victor Manuel Fernandez of Argentina’s La Plata tweeted on May 14 after seeing the Pope. “(There is) a problem in one of his knees, but every day he has more than two hours of rehabilitation, which pays off. Other than that, he’s better than ever.”
Francis recently withdrew from a planned two-day trip to Lebanon next month citing the knee problem, but the Vatican has confirmed he will travel to Congo and South Sudan in July, as well as Canada.
