Pope Francis apologized to his faithful flock after his sciatica forced him to remain seated while speaking at a Catholic Church court in Vatican City.
The 84-year-old Argentine was forced to cancel a series of recent events due to the condition of nerve pain.
“I would like to speak with you standing up, but sciatica is a troubled guest,” the pontiff told members of the Roman Route on Friday, according to Agence France-Presse.
“For that, I apologize and I will speak in a sitting position,” he told the members of the court as he marked the start of the Holy See’s judicial year.
Francis missed New Year’s Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica and two Masses earlier in the week due to a chronic crisis that causes pain in his hip.
He postponed the New Year’s greeting to the ambassadors on Monday, but managed to lead a Sunday prayer at lunchtime as scheduled.
In 2013, he told reporters that he had suffered a sciatica attack after being elected head of the Catholic Church earlier that year.
“The worst thing that happened, excuse me, was a serious sciatica attack that I had in the first month, because I was sitting in an armchair doing interviews and it hurt,” he said at the time, according to the French news agency.
“Sciatica is very painful, very painful. I don’t wish that on anyone. “
The Pope limps a little because of the condition, but he is in good health.
His current medical outbreak raised questions about his planned trip to Iraq in March.
He and his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, received the coronavirus vaccine earlier this year.
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