Pope Francis stumbled as the handle of his walking stick snapped while he was entering the Vatican auditorium on Saturday. However, the spiritual leader avoided falling. Pope, 88, uses wheelchair or a cane because of bad knees. As he stumbled, two aides rushed to help him to his chair. After he recovered, someone in the audience shouted “Viva il Papa” and the audience applauded.
According to AP, in January, Pope Francis fell and hurt his right arm. A sling had to be put on as a precaution. Earlier in December, he whacked his chin on his nightstand in an apparent fall. It caused a bruise.
He has been battling health problems, including long bouts of bronchitis. He uses a walker or cane when moving around his apartment in the Vatican's Santa Marta hotel.
Speculations regarding his health have been doing the rounds in Vatican circles, particularly after Pope Benedict XVI broke 600 years of tradition and resigned from the papacy in 2013.
According to Benedict's aides, the decision was taken due to a nighttime fall that he suffered during a 2012 trip to Mexico, after which he determined he couldn't keep up with the globe-trotting demands of the papacy.
Francis has said that he has no plans to resign anytime soon, even if Benedict “opened the door” to the possibility.
In his autobiography “Hope,” released this month, Francis said that he hadn't considered resigning even when he had major intestinal surgery.
(With inputs from AP)