VALETTA (Archyde.com) – Pope Francis had to use an elevator to board a plane to Malta on Saturday, and Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the reason was to “avoid unnecessary stress”.
This is the first time that the Pope has not climbed the stairs of the plane alone on his 36 foreign trips. The 85-year-old pope suffers from sciatica, a neurological disease that causes pain in his legs.
While on the plane to Malta for a two-day visit, the Pope was in high spirits greeting reporters but stumbled down the aisle with difficulty.
The elevator was also used to get off the plane as soon as it landed in Valletta, the capital of Malta.
Pope Francis was forced to cancel a trip to Florence in February and did not attend Ash Wednesday mass this year due to acute knee pain.
The pope was admitted to hospital for 11 days in July for surgery to remove part of his colon. After a period of rest, he made the arduous trip to Hungary and Slovakia in September.
The pope has been in good health since then but occasionally complains of leg and knee pain.