Pope Francis signed a letter of resignation from the papacy, in case he fell into a serious state of health

The Pope Francisco revealed for the first time in an interview on Sunday to a Spanish newspaper that he signed a letter of resignation almost a decade ago in case your ill health prevents you from performing your duties.

Francisco, who turned 86 years old On Saturday, he had already said that he would step down from the papacy if health problems prevent him from doing his job.

“I have already signed my resignation in case of medical impediment,” he said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC.

Francisco explained that he signed the letter and delivered it in 2013 to the then secretary of vatican stateCardinal Tarcisio Bertone, before he retired.

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I signed it and told him: ‘In case of impediment due to medical reasons or whatever, here is my resignation. They already have it,'” the pope explained.

Asked by the interviewer if he wanted this fact to be known, Francisco replied: “That’s why I’m telling you.”

Francisco has difficulty walking due to an inoperable knee problem that has forced him to use a wheelchair in the last few months.

He has also had to cancel or reduce activities several times in the past year due to pain.

In an interview in July he acknowledged that he needed to slow down. “I think that at my age and with this limitation, I have to preserve myself a little to be able to serve the church. Or, alternatively, think about the possibility of stepping aside,” he said then.

Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, resigned in 2013 due to health problems. He now lives in Vatican City.

In the interview, the pontiff also said that he planned to travel to Marseille next year to participate in a meeting of archbishops, the date of which has not yet been specified.

“Maybe next year I will go to Marseilles for the Mediterranean Meeting,” he said. He specified, however, that it would not be an official visit of the Vatican’s head of state in France.

“I was in Strasbourg, but not for France, but to visit the institutions of the European Union” in 2014, he recalled.