According to the Vatican, Pope Francis missed a meeting with a Jewish delegation on Thursday morning because of a flare-up of knee pain.
“Pope Francis was unable to meet this morning on account of aggravated knee pain,” a bulletin from the Holy See Press Office said on June 30.
The pope was represented at the interreligious gathering at the Vatican by Cardinal Kurt Koch, the head of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. Koch spoke to the audience with the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, which the pope had prepared in advance.
The cancellation of Pope Francis’ appearance comes after he recently displayed some improvement in his mobility by using a cane to navigate the pews at the Mass for Ss. Peter and Paul’s feast day on June 29.
The pope chose to use a cane during several of his public appearances this week after spending nearly two months primarily using a wheelchair due to the knee injury.
On June 30, Pope Francis returned to his wheelchair and received an Eastern Orthodox delegation at his Casa Santa Marta residence rather than the usual Apostolic Palace.
In the pope’s prepared speech for the interreligious meeting, he stressed that “hatred and violence are incompatible with our faith in the God who is ‘merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and faithfulness.’”
“In our turbulent times, it is critical that Jews and Christians encounter one another more frequently and work together in an effort to counter certain negative trends found in our western societies: idolatry of self and of money, extreme individualism and the culture of indifference and of waste,” he said.
“We are called to bear witness together to the God of mercy and justice, who loves and cares for all persons. We can do this by drawing upon the spiritual patrimony that we in part share, a patrimony that we are responsible for preserving and understanding ever more profoundly.”
Pope Francis reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment to combating antisemitism in all of its forms and to supporting measures taken to prevent it through education in homes, parishes, and educational institutions.
Eleven significant Jewish organizations are represented by the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations in discussions with the Vatican, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the World Council of Churches. The board of governors’ current chair is Rabbi David Sandmel.
“By strengthening dialogue, we can resist the extremism that, sadly, is a pathology that can appear also in religions. Let us pray that the Lord will continue to guide us on this path of dialogue and fraternity,” Pope Francis said.