Francis was led into the Paul VI Audience Hall in a wheelchair. Yesterday, at the General Audience, his difficulties and pain were visible.

Photo: Vatican media

Newsroom (05/05/2022 7:55 PM, Gaudium Press) Today Francis was led in a wheelchair to the meeting with the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) in the Paul VI Hall. Yesterday at the General Audience, he needed help to get up from his chair. One of the topics with the UISG was recognizing his vulnerability and that of others.

Last Monday, he underwent an intervention due to ruptured ligaments in his knee, which was already announced as “an intervention with infiltrations” to provide relief.

In several private meetings, such as the interview he held in recent days with the director and deputy director of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Francis apologized for not getting up from his chair due to medical indications.

It is the first time the Pope has appeared in a wheelchair in a public act. Still present are images of Francis greeting the medical staff at the Gemelli polyclinic from a wheelchair after his colon operation last year.

In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Francis recalled that “there was a time when popes used the sedia gestatoria,” a solemn chair on which the Pontiff was carried by dignitaries.

During his trip to Malta at the beginning of April, special arrangements were made so that the Pope would not have to climb stairs.

With information from Aciprensa.

Compiled by Gustavo Kralj