Papal trips are no longer as easy as before, acknowledged on Monday, returning from Mongolia, Pope Francis, 86, weakened by his old age and the multiplication of health problems. “To be frank, traveling is no longer as easy for me as it was at the beginning, I am limited in walking,” admitted the sovereign pontiff, hampered by knee and hip pain and who most often travels by wheelchair, in response to journalists who asked him on his return from Mongolia about his future official trips.
Hip problems, knee pain, operations, respiratory infection: Pope Francis has had recurring medical problems since his election in 2013. The Argentinian Jesuit was hospitalized for ten days in June due to an abdominal operation which left him away from the Vatican.