Pope Francis to undergo medical procedure for ‘torn ligament’ in knee

Vatican City, May 3, 2022 / 02:41 am (CNA).

Pope Francis will undergo a medical procedure on his knee on Tuesday, according to Italian media reports.

The 85-year-old pope said in an interview published on May 3 that he would undergo a small intervention for a torn ligament.

“I have a torn ligament, I’ll do an intervention with infiltrations and we shall see,” Pope Francis said, according to comments published by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

“I have been like this for some time, I cannot walk. … It also brings a little pain, humiliation,” the pope added.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told CNA that from what he understood about the procedure, “it’s basically an injection.”

Pope Francis has been suffering from an inflamed ligament, causing pain in his right knee and leg. He said on April 30 that his doctor had ordered him not to walk.

Therapeutic injections are sometimes used to relieve knee pain caused by ligament tears.

The pope made the comments about his knee pain and treatment during a 40-minute interview with journalists from Italy’s most read newspaper, in which he also spoke at length about the war in Ukraine, and the Vatican’s relations with the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill.

At the beginning of the interview, the pope said: “Excuse me if I cannot get up to greet you, the doctors told me that I have to remain seated for the knee.”

During some recent public audiences and liturgies, Francis has taken a smaller role or spent more time seated due to this pain.

On the day before the reported surgery, the pope moved a scheduled meeting to his residence in the Santa Marta guesthouse, rather than the apostolic palace.

The pope’s movements have been visibly more limited since February.