Don’t cry for him Argentina, but Pope Francis expects to die in Rome.
“I’m not going back to Argentina.” the 84-year-old Pope told Argentinian journalist and Doctor Nelson Castro, who publishes a book on the health of recent popes on Monday, dating back to Leo XIII, who led the world’s Roman Catholics from 1878 to 1903.
Pope Francis told Castro he is thinking about death, but when asked if he fears death, he replied, “Absolutely not,” said America Magazine, a publication of the religious order of the Pope, the Jesuits.
Francis also told Castro that he expects to die “in Rome, as Pope or Emeritus.” He also made it clear that he would be buried in the Eternal City and not return to be buried in Buenos Aires, where he spent most of his life.
The Pope has been suffering from sciatica lately, which makes it difficult for him to stand, causing the faithful to worry. At the turn of the year, he skipped several shifts because of the pain in his hip caused by the chronic condition.
Francis told Castro about his experience of removing cysts from the upper lobe of his right lung in 1957 when he was 21 years old. He said he “never felt any limitation” of that condition after his recovery from surgery, which some people falsely believe led to the removal of his entire lung.
He also discussed his weekly visits to a psychologist in the 1970s when he talked about helping people escape Argentina’s military dictatorship, and she helped him deal with the tensions and fears he was experiencing at the time. He still sometimes suffers from what he called ‘neurotic anxiety’, which he copes by listening to Bach or sipping mate, a popular Argentinean herbal drink.
Francis, along with former Pope Benedict, was given the COVID-19 vaccine in January.