The video, shared on the TikTok social network, has gone viral. Pope Francis recently joked with a group of Mexican priests who asked him about his chronic knee pain. This conversation of a few minutes was filmed by one of the Mexican priests during the Pope’s weekly general audience last Wednesday.
“Pope Francis, how is your knee? asks one of the priests in this video. “Very capricious”, replies the pontiff, evoking his pains which forced him to appear for the first time in public in a wheelchair at the beginning of May and to postpone a trip to Lebanon. The priest then says to François: “Thank you for your smile, your joy in being there despite your problems. You also give us a good example for future priests”.
François, 85, answers them from the top of his popemobile with a mischievous look: “Do you know what I need for my leg? A little tequila,” and everyone burst out laughing. “If one day we go to Sainte-Marthe, we will bring you a small bottle”, they assure him, referring to a visit to the place of residence of the pope in the Vatican. Tequila is a spirit produced in Mexico from the Agave tequilana plant.
Pain for months
It is not the first time that the Argentine pontiff has joked and displayed his good humor with the people who greet him during the general audience. He also does not spare the ironic comments about the pain in his right knee which he has suffered for months. At the beginning of May, he received an infiltration to reduce the pain.
In January, he explained his health problems during a general audience to the faithful: “It is something temporary. They say it only happens to old people, and I don’t know why it happened to me…”, he concluded with a smile, to the applause of the audience.