section_path: Background
section_name: Background
paragraph_text: Background
  
  Elected in 2013 at the age of 76, Francis was then reported to be healthy despite having suffered from chronic lung damage, due in part to the lung excision he had as a young man. His doctors had said the lung tissue removed then would not significantly affect his health. The only concern would be decreased respiratory reserve if he had a respiratory infection. In the last few years of his life, he was prone to bouts of influenza and bronchitis in the winter. Knee problems and sciatica had prompted him to frequently use a wheelchair, walker, or cane.
  
  In 2021, Francis's health problems prompted rumours that he might resign, which Francis dismissed. However, Francis confirmed in 2022 that he had prepared a resignation letter in the first year of his pontificate, in the event he needed to abdicate his position due to illness "impeding his work" as pope. The sealed letter was given to Tarcisio Bertone, the Cardinal Secretary of State at the time. In June 2022, after undergoing treatment to his knee, Francis cancelled planned trips to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. In an interview with Reuters that month, Francis said that he had not considered resigning but would do so if his health made it impossible for him to run the Church. During his eventual trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in February 2023, Francis said that resignation was "not in his agenda at the moment".
  
  In March 2023, Francis was hospitalized in Rome with a respiratory infection. He returned to celebrate the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday, in April. In June, Francis underwent abdominal surgery after suffering from a hernia. Francis had publicly used a wheelchair since 2022, initially due to persistent knee pain which required an operation. He acknowledged that his recurring mobility problems had precipitated the beginning of what Reuters termed "a new, slower phase of his papacy", although he was praised by disabled Catholics for making his " disability part of his visible identity".