Pope freed from lift by firefighters
Print Edition
Pope Francis said on Sunday he was late to his weekly Angelus prayer because he stuck in a Vatican elevator and had to be freed by firemen.
He followed the tale of his rescue with a surprise announcement about the creation of 13 new, red-hatted cardinals of the Catholic Church 鈥 including 10 possible future popes.
鈥淚 have to apologize for being late,鈥 the smiling 82-year-old pontiff told crowds of faithful patiently waiting for him to appear at his study window overlooking Saint Peter鈥檚 Square.
鈥淚 was trapped in a lift for 25 minutes. There was a power outage and the lift stopped but then the firemen came. Let鈥檚 give a round of applause to the fire service,鈥 he said, prompting cheers from the crowd.
Italian television networks that livestream the Angelus had been concerned that the unprecedented seven-minute delay might have been due to health reasons. Francis seems to have unlimited energy despite his age. But he lost part of a lung in his youth and the occasional grimace bears witness to the sciatic pain that is a near-constant companion.
鈥淭here was a moment of great worry over what could have happened to him,鈥 said Vania De Luca, Vatican expert for Rai News.
It was believed to be the first time the Vatican鈥檚 head of state, who leads the world鈥檚 1.2 billion Catholics, has got stuck in a lift. In 2015 two nuns survived three days trapped in a lift in Rome without food and water.
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