Rome (Reuters) – Pope Benedict XVI walked on Friday publicly supported a cane for the first time in his pontificate at the start of his trip to Latin America, a sample of his growing physical weakness.
The Pontiff, who turns 85 next month, walked to the plane at the Airport Fiumicino in Rome with the help of a cane, said several Vatican journalists accompanying him on his visit to Cuba and Mexico.
The Pope last year began using a mobile platform to not walk too on the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The Vatican said the Pontiff used the platform to avoid fatigue and that there were no major concerns about his health.
Benedict XVI intends to rest 24 hours upon arrival at Mexico to recover from lag, in contrast to the busy schedule of his predecessor John Paul II rather than his health deteriorate in the last years of his life.
The German Pope was 78 years old when he was elected to the maximum in the Catholic Church and has decided to keep a less exhausting schedule to preserve their health, while John Paul II was 58 at the start of his papacy.
John Paul II, who died in 2005, made 19 trips to Latin America, a region in overwhelmingly Catholic majority, the last of them when he was 82 years old.
The less active Benedict XVI, in April enters the eighth year of his pontificate, made his second trip to Latin America and the first to Spanish-speaking countries of the region after visiting Brazil in 2007.
