In a radio interview broadcast on Wednesday, Pope Francis claimed he is not considering resignation and is leading a “completely normal life” following intestinal surgery in July.
“I don’t know where they got it last week that I was going to leave it didn’t even cross my mind,” Francis, 84, told Spanish radio network COPE, dismissing an Italian newspaper story that he may resign.
In addition, he stated that he would virtually certainly attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November.
In the interview, the pope thanked a male nurse at the Vatican for convincing him to undergo surgery to remove part of his colon rather than continuing treatment with antibiotics and other medicines, as some doctors had favoured.
“He saved my life,” the pope said.
Francis, who was elected pontiff in 2013, underwent surgery on July 4 and spent 11 days in hospital. He had been suffering from a severe case of symptomatic diverticular stenosis, a narrowing of the colon.
“Now I can eat everything, which was not possible before I lead a totally normal life,” he said, adding that 33 centimetres (13 inches) of his intestine was removed.
He further dismissed the report of his potential resignation by outlining his full schedule, with a trip to Hungary and Slovakia on Sept. 12-15 and visits to Cyprus, Greece and Malta in the pipeline as well his planned attendance at COP26.
Newspaper Libero reported on Aug. 23 that there was “a conclave in the air” at the Vatican – a reference to the secret meeting at which cardinals choose a new pope when the incumbent dies or resigns. It said Francis had spoken of resigning, possibly to coincide with his 85th birthday in December.
“Whenever a pope is ill there is always a breeze or a hurricane about a conclave,” he told COPE.
