Pope’s Africa trip shelved amid rumours of resignation

POPE Francis has cancelled trips to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising concerns about his health and fuelling further speculation that he could resign.

He had been due to visit the two African countries next month, but the Vatican said the trips were being shelved because of problems the Pope is having with his knee. The pain has become so acute that in the past few weeks the Argentinian pontiff has often appeared in public in a wheelchair.

The Holy See said in a statement: “At the request of his doctors, and in order not to jeopardise the results of the therapy that he is undergoing for his knee, the Holy Father has been forced to postpone, with regret, his apostolic journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo and to South Sudan, planned for 2 to 7 July.” The journeys might be rescheduled at “a later date to be determined”.

There is already feverish speculation about whether the 85-year-old Pope might be preparing to follow the precedent set by his predecessor Benedict XVI, who surprised the world when he resigned in 2013.

Last weekend, the Pope added further fuel to those rumours by announcing that in August he will visit the city of L’aquila in central Italy where he will pray at the tomb of Pope Celestine V, who resigned after just five months in 1294 because he was overwhelmed by the role and wanted to return to his life as a hermit.

Some Vatican insiders argue that the Pope will not step down until the death of Benedict, 95, because having three popes – two retired and one active – living in close confines in the Vatican would be profoundly awkward. But that is dismissed by other experts, who say the Pope has constantly come up with surprises during his papacy.