At the end of a six-day tour of the country, the 85-year-old pontiff said he could no longer travel as he used to because of his physical ailments. “It’s not strange. It’s not a disaster. You can change the pope,” he said while sitting in an airplane wheelchair during a 45-minute press conference. “I think that at my age and with these limitations, I have to conserve (my energy) to be able to serve the church, or instead, consider the possibility of stepping aside,” he added. During the trip to Canada, the pope was first seen using a wheelchair, walker and cane to get around, which limited his schedule and his ability to interact with crowds. Earlier this year he strained ligaments in his right knee. Continued treatment for his knee forced him to cancel a trip to Africa that was scheduled for the first week of July. “I will try to continue traveling and being close to people because I believe it is a way of service, to be close. But more than that, I can’t say,” he said. On Monday, the Pope issued a long-awaited apology for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s “residential school” system in which an estimated 150,000 children were separated from their families between 1883 and 1970. Indigenous children were brutally forced to assimilate in these schools and were often subjected to neglect and physical and sexual abuse. Catholic orders operated 66 of the 139 government-funded residential schools, sites Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has labeled “cultural genocide.” The Pope said on Saturday that he did not use the word “genocide” as it did not occur to him. The Canadian government said Wednesday that his apology did not go far enough. “It’s true that I didn’t use the word because it didn’t occur to me, but I did describe genocide, didn’t I?” said Francis. “I asked for forgiveness, I asked for forgiveness for this work, which was genocide.” He also confirmed that he hoped to travel to Kazakhstan in mid-September for an interfaith conference where he might meet with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who has justified the war in Ukraine. A trip to Kyiv was also on the Pope’s agenda, although the schedule has not yet been confirmed.
