By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis, who turned 88 last month and asked an aide to read a major speech last week due to a cold, says in a new book that he feels healthy and has no plans to resign as leader of the global Catholic Church.
“I am well,” the pontiff states in an autobiography on sale in more than 100 countries on Tuesday. “The reality is, quite simply, that I am old.”
The pope, who now often uses a wheelchair due to knee and back pain, says: “The Church is governed using the head and the heart, not the legs.”
Francis, originally from Argentina and the first pope from Latin America, has led the 1.4 billion-member Church since 2013.
He has suffered from influenza and related problems several times over in the past two years. He also had surgery in 2021 to address a painful condition called diverticulitis, and again in 2023 to repair a hernia.
“Each time a pope takes ill, the winds of a conclave always feel as if they are blowing,” Francis states in the book, referring to the secret meeting of Catholic cardinals that will one day elect the next pontiff.
“The reality is that even during the days of surgery I never thought of resigning,” he says.
The new volume, titled “Hope”, is the second of two books in two years by the pope, following a memoir released in March 2024.
Mondadori, the book’s Italian publisher, said the new volume was originally planned by Francis to be released after his death. But the pope decided it should instead be published during the ongoing Catholic Holy Year, which is also focusing on the theme of hope.
Over the 303-page volume, the pope reviews his life growing up in Buenos Aires, his career as a bishop in Argentina, and some of the decisions he has made as leader of the global Church.
Francis strongly defends a 2024 decision to allow priests to offer blessings for same-sex couples on a case-by-case basis. That decision sparked widespread debate in the Church, with bishops in some countries, particularly in Africa, refusing to let their priests implement it.
“It is the people who are blessed, not the relationships,” he states. “Everyone in the Church is invited (for a blessing), including people who are divorced, including people who are homosexual, including people who are transgender.”
“Homosexuality is not a crime, it is a human fact,” he says.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Michael Perry)
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