Do not cry for him Argentina, but Pope Francis expects to die in Rome.
“I will not return to Argentina.” the 84-year-old Pontiff told Leo XIII, who led the world’s Roman Catholics from 1878 to 1903, to Argentine journalist and doctor Nelson Castro, who is publishing a book on the health of recent popes on Monday.
Pope Francis told Castro that he was thinking of death, but when asked if he feared death, he replied, “Absolutely not,” according to America Magazine, a publication of the pope’s religious order, the Jesuits.
Francis also told Castro he expected to “die in Rome, as pope or emeritus”. He also made it clear that he would be buried in the Eternal City and not be buried again in Buenos Aires, where he spent most of his life.
The pope has recently suffered sciatic attacks that make it difficult for him to stand, causing concern among believers. He skipped several services during the new year due to the pain in his hip caused by the chronic condition.
Francis told Castro about his experience that cysts were removed from the upper lobe of his right lung in 1957, when he was 21. He said he “never felt a limitation” of the condition after his recovery after the operation, which according to some people was unlikely to lead to the removal of his entire lung.
He also discussed his weekly visits to a psychologist during the 1970s when he spoke to help people escape Argentina’s military dictatorship, and she helped him deal with the tensions and fears he was experiencing at the time. He also sometimes suffers from what he calls ‘neurotic anxiety’, with which he listens to Bach or ‘mate’, a popular Argentine herbal drink.
Francis, along with former Pope Benedict, received the COVID-19 vaccine in January.