Pope jokes about foes’ focus on his health
Pope Francis showed his dark-humor side at a recent meeting with religious leaders in Slovakia as he remarked on his health after a 13inch section of his large intestine was removed in July.
“Still alive,” he quipped on his first international outing since the surgery. “Even though some wanted me dead. I know there were even meetings among priests who thought the pope was in worse shape than what was being said.”
Francis made the comments earlier in September. They were reported Tuesday by the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica.
While Francis was in the hospital for 10 days during the summer, speculation ran rampant about the 84-year-old pontiff’s condition. Many of his conservative critics were monitoring his health particularly closely, he joked.
“They were preparing the conclave,” he said, referring to the process that elects a new pope. “Patience! Thank God I’m well.”
Francis underwent planned surgery in July for diverticular stenosis of the colon, which causes small bulges in the wall of the large intestine. Left untreated it can lead to infection or bowel perforation. He emerged in good condition from the three-hour surgery, Vatican officials said at the time.
During a three-day tour in Hungary and Slovakia from Sept. 12 to Sept. 15, Francis urged those mostly Catholic countries not to let religion color their politics or make them too rigid. He also called out prejudice and discrimination while visiting a Holocaust memorial and during a stop at an impoverished community.
In addition, he directly addressed priests who are outspoken against his ministry in what was seen as a veiled reference to the Eternal Word Television Network, a Birmingham, Ala.-based TV network that has pushed back against some of Francis’ initiatives.
“Yes, there are also clerics who make nasty comments about me,” Francis said, according to the National Catholic Reporter. “I sometimes lose patience, especially when they make judgments without entering into a real dialogue. I can’t do anything there. However, I go on without entering their world of ideas and fantasies.”