Pope Francis apologized to his faithful flock after his sciatica forced him to sit while addressing a court in the Vatican City Catholic Church.
The 84-year-old Argentine has been forced to cancel several recent events due to nervous pain illness.
“I would like to speak to you standing up, but sciatica is an annoying guest,” the pontiff told members of the Roman Route on Friday, according to Agence France-Presse.
“So I apologize and I will speak sitting down,” he told members of the court as he marked the start of the Holy See’s judicial year.
Francis skipped New Year’s Masses at St. Peter’s Basilica and two Masses earlier in the week due to an attack with chronic illness that causes him hip pain.
He postponed New Year’s greetings to ambassadors on Monday, but was able to lead a Sunday prayer at lunchtime as scheduled.
In 2013, he told reporters he had suffered a sciatica attack after being elected head of the Catholic Church earlier this year.
“The worst thing that happened, sorry, was a sciatica attack, really, that I had the first month, because I was sitting in an armchair doing interviews and it hurt,” he said at the time, according to the French. news agency.
“Sciatica is very painful, very painful. I don’t wish on anyone. “
The pope walks with a slight lameness as a result of the condition, but on the other hand is in good health.
His current medical outbreak has raised questions about his March trip to Iraq.
He and his predecessor, Pope Benedict, received the coronavirus vaccine earlier this year.
With publishing cables