Head doctor for Madrid soccer team calls Pope Francis a 'very stubborn patient'
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Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square, Sept. 28, 2022 / Pablo Esparza / CNARome Newsroom, Nov 23, 2022 / 07:34 am (CNA).The Vatican has recruited the head doctor of a Madrid soccer team among a team of specialists to help treat Pope Francis' knee problem.José María Villalón, a sports medicine specialist and the head doctor of the Atlético de Madrid soccer team, described the pope as a "very stubborn patient" in a radio interview this week.The doctor said that Pope Francis is "a very nice and very stubborn patient in the sense that there are surgical procedures that he does not want. We have to offer him more conservative treatments so that he will agree to them."Speaking in an interview with COPE, the Spanish bishops' conference radio station, on November 20, Villalón said that the pope's issue with his knee had affected some of his other joints as well."Sometimes it starts with a joint with osteoarthritis and other joints deteriorate because they are overloaded," he said. "W...
Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square, Sept. 28, 2022 / Pablo Esparza / CNA
Rome Newsroom, Nov 23, 2022 / 07:34 am (CNA).
The Vatican has recruited the head doctor of a Madrid soccer team among a team of specialists to help treat Pope Francis' knee problem.
José María Villalón, a sports medicine specialist and the head doctor of the Atlético de Madrid soccer team, described the pope as a "very stubborn patient" in a radio interview this week.
The doctor said that Pope Francis is "a very nice and very stubborn patient in the sense that there are surgical procedures that he does not want. We have to offer him more conservative treatments so that he will agree to them."
Speaking in an interview with COPE, the Spanish bishops' conference radio station, on November 20, Villalón said that the pope's issue with his knee had affected some of his other joints as well.
"Sometimes it starts with a joint with osteoarthritis and other joints deteriorate because they are overloaded," he said. "We are trying to make sure that this does not advance and that things get better."
Villalón said that he was contacted by both the Apostolic Nunciature in Spain and the Spanish bishops' conference, who "asked a group of specialists if we could help the pope."
Pope Francis, who turns 86 next month, has alternated between using a wheelchair and a walking cane since May.
Earlier this month, the pope told journalists that he was in "a lot of pain" on a flight to Bahrain. Pope Francis has previously canceled public appearances and trips due to his knee trouble, including a scheduled trip to Africa in July.
Villalón said that at first he was "nervous" during his first communication with the pope, but that they bonded because "he likes soccer."
In particular, the pope expressed his fondness for Atlético de Madrid's striker, Ángel Correa, an Argentine soccer player who used to play for the San Lorenzo soccer club in Buenos Aires.
Correa recently joined Argentina's national soccer team at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where Argentina suffered a shocking defeat in a game against Saudi Arabia on Nov. 22.
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Pope Francis speaks to journalists on Feb. 5, 2023, during his flight back to Rome after his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. / Vatican MediaRome, Italy, Feb 5, 2023 / 11:35 am (CNA).Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's death was used by people in a self-serving way, Pope Francis said aboard the papal plane returning from South Sudan on Sunday."I think Benedict's death was instrumentalized by people who want to serve their own interests," he said during an in-flight press conference Feb. 5.People who instrumentalize such a good and holy person, Francis added, are partisans and unethical.There is a widespread tendency to make political parties out of theological positions, he said. "I leave it alone. These things will fall on their own, or if they don't fall they will move on as has happened so many times in the history of the Church."Pope Francis' comments were made aboard the papal plane from Juba, South Sudan, to Rome, at the end of a six-day trip that also ...
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Pope Francis speaks to the media on Feb. 5, 2023, during his return flight to Rome from his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. / Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, Feb 5, 2023 / 12:00 pm (CNA).On his return flight from South Sudan on Sunday, Pope Francis said that God loves and accompanies people with same-sex attraction. When asked by a journalist what the pope would say to families in Congo and South Sudan who reject their children because they are gay, Pope Francis responded that the catechism teaches that people with same-sex attraction should not be marginalized. "People with homosexual tendencies are children of God. God loves them. God accompanies them," the pope said during an in-flight press conference on his return from Juba on Feb. 5."To condemn someone like this is a sin. Criminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice," he added.In a first for a papal trip, Pope Francis was joined for the in-flight press conference by two ...
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The documentary "Lourdes," showing in theaters on Feb. 8 and 9, follows the experiences of sick and disabled pilgrims who often seek consolation rather than cures. / Bosco FilmsWashington D.C., Feb 5, 2023 / 05:00 am (CNA).The French documentary film "Lourdes" will be shown in 700 theaters in the U.S., for a special two-day screening, on Feb. 8 (in French with English subtitles) and Feb. 9 (in Spanish with English subtitles).The film presents a unique and affecting view of the Catholic pilgrimage site as seen through the eyes of several of the sick pilgrims and their caregivers. A surprise hit in France among critics and audiences, the award-winning documentary follows several sick and disabled pilgrims who travel to Lourdes in search of consolation, if not miracles, at the Marian shrine in the French Pyrenees. It was there on Feb. 11, 1858, that 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous witnessed the first of 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The filmmakers received unpreced...
