Vatican, 22 June, 2023 / 7:25 pm (ACI Africa).
Just 40 days before World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, Pope Francis said he is ready to go and poor health will not keep him away.
Francis is continuing to recover from an abdominal surgery he underwent on June 7. He was released from the hospital last Friday and has jumped back into taking private meetings, though his Wednesday, June 21, public audience was canceled.
In a video recorded by Bishop Américo Aguiar, auxiliary of Lisbon and the coordinator of World Youth Day 2023, Pope Francis held up a gray, WYD-branded backpack and said, “I’m ready! I already have everything and I can’t wait to go!”
“Some people think that I can’t go because of illness, but the doctor told me I can, so I will be with you,” he said in the June 22 video addressed to young people.