Francis also told Reuters in an interview published Monday that the idea “never entered my mind” to announce a planned retirement at the end of the summer, though he repeated he might step down some day as Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI did in 2013.
Pope Francis has dismissed rumours he plans to resign anytime soon, and says that he hopes to visit Moscow and Kyiv after travelling to Canada later this month.
Francis also told Reuters in an interview published Monday that the idea “never entered my mind” to announce a planned retirement at the end of the summer, though he repeated he might step down some day as Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI did in 2013.
He revealed that his knee trouble, which has caused him to use a wheelchair for over a month, was caused by a “small fracture” that occurred when he stepped awkwardly while the knee ligament was inflamed.
He said it is “slowly getting better” with laser and magnet therapy.
Francis was due to have visited Congo and South Sudan this week but had to cancel the trip because doctors said he needed more therapy. He said he was on board to travel to Canada July 24-30 and said he hoped to visit Russia and Ukraine sometime thereafter.
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Al Jazeera reporter likely killed by unintentional gunfire from Israeli side: US
Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was likely killed by unintentional gunfire from Israeli positions, but independent investigators could not reach a definitive conclusion about the origin of the bullet that struck her, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. The U.S. Security Coordinator, after summarizing investigations by both the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian Authority, concluded that gunfire from Israeli positions was likely responsible for Abu Akleh’s death, the State Department said.
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Imran Khan’s party apologised to US over foreign conspiracy claim: Pak minister
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s allegations of a foreign conspiracy to overthrow his government is not new. The cricketer-turned-politician had even named a US diplomat named Donald Lu for being allegedly involved in a conspiracy to remove him from the post of prime minister. Now, a senior minister in the incumbent Shehbaz Sharif government has claimed that Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has apologised to Lu, the US assistant secretary for south and central Asian affairs.
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Drones, helicopters search for missing after Italian glacier collapse
Helicopter crews and drones searched on Monday for around 15 people missing in the Italian Alps after part of a mountain glacier collapsed, killing at least six people and injuring eight. Sunday’s avalanche took place on the Marmolada, which at more than 3,300 metres is the highest peak in the Dolomites, a range in the eastern Italian Alps straddling the regions of Trento and Veneto.
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Man dies in jet-propelled truck crash at US air show
Video taken at the Battle Creek Executive Airport by apparent air show attendees and posted on social media showed the truck losing control, bursting into flames and crashing, flipping over multiple times as horrified spectators looked on.
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3 dead after shooting at shopping mall in Copenhagen; one arrested
The Royal House said on its website late on Sunday that an event in southern Denmark to commemorate the end of the first three stages of the Tour de France cycling race, hosted by the Danish Crown Prince and with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in attendance, had been cancelled.