Speaking to reporters while traveling home from northern Nunavut, the 85-year-old Francis stressed that he had not considered resigning, but said “the door is open” and that it was not a bad thing for a pope to step down. “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. Francis said that while he hadn’t considered quitting until now, he realizes that he should at least slow down. “I think 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 said. Francis was full of questions about his mouse’s future after the first trip in which he used a wheelchair, walker and cane to get around, sharply curtailing his schedule and ability to socialize with crowds. He strained ligaments in his right knee earlier this year, and continued laser and magnetic therapy forced him to cancel a trip to Africa that was scheduled for the first week of July. Cameras capture Pope Francis speaking on the papal flight on July 30, 2022. Pope Francis arrives in Canada to meet former school students at Iqaluit International Airport in Canada on July 29, 2022. MEDIA INDICATION VATICAN/EPA-EFE/Sh The trip to Canada was difficult and included several moments when Francis was clearly in pain as he maneuvered himself up and down from chairs. At the end of his six-day tour, he appeared in high spirits and full of energy, despite a long day traveling to the edge of the Arctic on Friday to again apologize to indigenous peoples for the injustices they suffered in Canada’s church-based residential schools. Francis ruled out surgery on his knee, saying it wouldn’t necessarily help and noting the effects of more than six hours of anesthesia in July 2021 to have 13 inches of his colon removed “are still there.” “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 Saturday.
