Pope Francis, who has been suffering from knee pain, used a wheelchair for the first time on Thursday at a public event.
According to an AFP journalist, the 85-year-old was wheeled into the Paul VI hall at the Vatican for a meeting of a Catholic organization of sisters and nuns.
He used a wheelchair after a colon operation last summer, but this was the first time he was photographed in one at a public event.
Francis has been suffering from pain in his right knee for months, canceling numerous engagements, and has struggled to walk in recent days.
At the weekly audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday, he had to be helped out of his chair by an assistant.
The Vatican has not officially stated what the problem is, but sources have told AFP that he suffers from chronic arthritis.
The pope has also mentioned a torn ligament in his knee.
In an interview published Tuesday, he told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that he would undergo a “intervention with infiltration.”
According to Vatican sources, this involved the injection of anti-inflammatories into the joint, with no surgical intervention currently planned.
In April, he told an Argentine newspaper that he was treating his knee pain with ice and painkillers.
