His Holiness Pope Francis postpones his trip to Lebanon for health reasons
His Holiness Pope Francis used a wheelchair for the first time in public on May 6 following knee treatment Handout - VATICAN MEDIA/ AFP/ File
Beirut (AFP) – His Holiness Pope Francis has postponed a trip to Lebanon initially planned for June over health concerns, Lebanon's tourism minister Walid Nassar said Monday.
Nassar did not elaborate on the "health reasons" behind the postponement, but the Pope who has suffered from pain in his knee was seen using a wheelchair for the first time at a public event on Thursday.
"Lebanon received a letter from the Vatican officially informing it of the decision to postpone the scheduled visit of the Pope to Lebanon," Nassar said in a statement published by the official National News Agency.
The Pope's "foreign visits and scheduled appointments... have been postponed for health reasons," said Nassar, who heads a committee tasked with preparing for the trip.
The Vatican had never confirmed the visit but Lebanon's presidency in April said that the 85-year-old pontiff would visit Lebanon in June.
His Holiness Pope Francis has been suffering for months with pain in his right knee, that forced him to cancel numerous engagements and from presiding over some religious celebrations in recent days.
The Vatican has not said officially what the problem is, although sources have told AFP he has chronic arthritis.
The Pope himself has also spoken of an injured ligament in his knee.
He told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published last week that he would undergo an "intervention with infiltration".
And in April, the pontiff told a newspaper in Argentina in April that he was treating his knee pain by putting ice on it and taking some painkillers…
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