Pope Francis says he wants to be buried in the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, not in the Vatican grottoes like other popes, so he can be close to his favorite icon of the Virgin.
Francis, who will turn 87 on Sunday, also said he never thought about stepping down this year despite a series of health problems.
He said he has a trip to Belgium confirmed next year and is considering visits to Polynesia and his native Argentina.
“It is true that now all trips are rethought,” Francisco told N+ of the Mexican station Televisa. “If they are close, they can be done. If they are further away they reconsider. “There are limits.”
It was Francis’ first interview since his latest bout with acute bronchitis, which forced him to cancel a trip this month to Dubai to participate in the U.N. climate conference.
Francis, who had part of his lung removed when he was young, appeared to be in good shape and said he was now recovered and feeling well.
Although the Pope’s job is for life, Francis reconfirmed the possibility of resignation and said he has to prepare for any possibility. “I ask the Lord to say enough is enough, at some point, but whenever he wants,” he said.
Francis has already said that if he retires, as Pope Benedict XVI did in 2013, he would like to live outside the Vatican, somewhere in Rome, in a residence for retired priests.
Francis has long emphasized his role as bishop of Rome and has a particular devotion to an icon of the Virgin Mary on display in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, near Rome’s main train station.
After each trip, for example, Francis goes to the basilica to pray before the Salus populi Romani (Salvation of the people of Rome), a Byzantine-style painting that features an image of Mary, wrapped in a blue robe, holding the baby Jesus. . who in turn holds a golden book with jewels.
Pope Francis revealed where he wants to be buried. fake images
“It is my great devotion,” Francis said, adding that he had already decided he wanted to be buried near the basilica. “The place is already prepared.”
Francis had two bouts of bronchitis this year and was hospitalized for nine days in June to repair an abdominal hernia and remove intestinal scar tissue. He has been using a wheelchair and a cane for more than a year due to a strained knee ligaments.
Many popes are buried in tombs in the grottoes beneath St. Peter’s Basilica or in side chapels of the basilica itself, including all of Francis’s recent predecessors.
Regarding the trip, Francisco confirmed that a trip to his native Argentina was “pending” and that the country’s new president, Javier Milei, had invited him. Francis has been dogged by questions throughout his 10 years of papacy about why he has not returned home, questions that have only intensified following Milei’s unexpected victory.
During the campaign, the self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist” called Francisco an “imbecile” for defending social justice and a “representative of evil on Earth.”
Francisco, who had a long conversation with Milei after his victory, seemed to have forgiven him. “In an electoral campaign, things are said ‘jokingly’, they are said seriously, but they are provisional things, things that are used to create a little attention, but then disappear on their own,” Francisco said.
“You have to distinguish a lot between what a politician says in the electoral campaign and what he is really going to do afterwards, because then comes the time for concrete things, for decisions.” Francis’ planned visit to Belgium is to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the country’s two main Catholic universities.
In a statement Wednesday welcoming confirmation of Francis’ visit, Belgium’s bishops said Francis was expected to stay one or two days, with a date yet to be determined.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn