In his own words: Pope Francis has long been up front about his health problems and eventual death

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has written and spoken astatine magnitude astir sickness, aging and death, and personally directed that his doctors supply the reasonably elaborate regular updates that person punctuated his ain conflict with pneumonia.

On Monday, they reported bully news: Francis was nary longer successful imminent information of decease but needed to stay hospitalized for respective much days to person treatment.

The 88-year-old pope is simply responding to the sometimes morbid involvement successful the wellness of popes implicit centuries, and is making his ain the somewhat-mixed bequest of St. John Paul II. The Polish pope suffered from Parkinson’s disease, and his diminution was connected nationalist presumption for years. But the Vatican ne'er admitted helium had the illness until aft helium was dead.

Francis’ candor with his ain fragility is precise overmuch successful keeping with a determination helium made aboriginal connected successful his papacy to beryllium up beforehand astir his health: He granted an unprecedented tell-all interrogation to an Argentine doc who published a publication successful 2021 detailing Francis’ carnal and intelligence wellness history. And past week, Francis recorded an audio connection from the infirmary that laid bare the weakness of his voice, and the labored, breathless effort it took for him to utter conscionable a fewer words.

Here are a fewer of Francis’ past musings connected sickness, ageing and decease and however they mightiness impact the aboriginal of his pontificate.

On increasing old:

Francis has agelong complained astir the mode nine treats aged people, saying they are portion of today’s consumerist “throwaway culture” erstwhile they are deemed nary longer productive. For that crushed especially, helium insisted that Pope Benedict XVI proceed to beryllium portion of the beingness of the religion during his 10-year retirement.

Francis’ views connected ageing person been consistent, adjacent arsenic helium himself has aged and go babelike connected a wheelchair and walker to get around.

In the 2010 publication “On Heaven and Earth,” written alongside his person the Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Francis denounced the cruelty that confronts aged people. He shamed families who unopen their grandparents distant successful nursing homes and neglect to sojourn them.

“The aged are sources of the transmission of history, the radical who springiness america memories, they are the representation of the people, of a nation, of the household and of the culture, religion,” said Francis, who astatine the clip was the archbishop of Buenos Aires.

On decease successful general:

In the aforesaid book, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio recalled that his grandma Rosa, who helped rise him, had the words of an adage framed connected her bedside array that stayed with him each his life: “See that God sees you, spot that helium is watching you, spot that you volition dice and you don’t cognize when.”

He referred to the saying again successful 2018 successful a code to priests, and that his grandma had instructed him to recite it each time “‘so you volition retrieve that beingness has an end.’"

“I didn’t recognize overmuch astatine the time, but that verse, since I was 3 years old, has stuck with me,” helium told the priests. “And it helped me. The happening was benignant of bleak, but it helped me.”

On his ain wellness problems:

The Argentine writer and physician, Dr. Nelson Castro, revealed successful his 2021 publication “The Health of Popes,” that Francis had reached retired to him wrong a fewer months of his 2013 predetermination with a proposition that helium constitute a publication astir the past of the wellness of the popes, including his own.

Castro was granted entree to the Vatican Secret Archives to probe the lives and deaths of past popes and had a sit-down interrogation with Francis connected Feb. 19, 2019, during which the reigning pope spoke astatine magnitude and successful item astir his assorted ailments implicit the years: The respiratory corruption that resulted successful the removal of the precocious lobe of his close lung, the gangrenous gallbladder helium had removed erstwhile helium was provincial superior of the Jesuits, the compressed vertebrae, level feet and fatty liver helium has lived with.

The astir noteworthy revelation was that Francis said helium saw a psychiatrist play during six months of Argentina’s subject dictatorship. He had sought retired assistance to negociate his anxiousness erstwhile helium was trying to fell radical from the subject and ferry them retired of Argentina.

“In those six months she helped maine with respect to however to negociate the fears of that time,” helium told Castro. “If you tin ideate what it was similar to transport idiosyncratic hidden successful the car — covered by a broad — and walk done subject controls. … It created an tremendous hostility successful me.”

He said the therapy besides helped him to support a consciousness of equilibrium successful making decisions of each kinds, and that successful wide helium believes each priests indispensable recognize quality psychology.

“We should connection a mate to our neuroses,” helium said, referring to the South American tea. “They are our companions for life.”

On his ain death:

As aboriginal arsenic 2014 Francis was already assuming his papacy would beryllium short-lived and that his ain decease was not acold off.

“I recognize that this is not going to past long, 2 oregon 3 years, and past … disconnected to the location of the Father,” helium told reporters successful 2014 portion traveling location from 1 of his aboriginal overseas trips, to South Korea.

He told Castro aboriginal that helium thought astir decease — a batch — but that it didn’t scare him “one bit.”

Francis made plans, too: He decided his tomb volition beryllium successful St. Mary Major basilica, not successful the Vatican, truthful helium tin beryllium adjacent his favourite icon of the Madonna, the Salus Populi Romani ("Salvation of the People of Rome"), which is located there.

More recently, helium has taken to speaking astir upcoming events that helium is beauteous definite helium won’t beryllium astir for, and indicating who might.

In 2023, speaking to reporters astir the Vatican’s warming relations with Vietnam, Francis concurred that the state warranted a papal visit.

“If I don’t go, surely John XXIV will,” helium said chuckling, referring to a aboriginal pope who mightiness beryllium named for the progressive, Vatican II-era pontiff, John XXIII.

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