87 and hobbled, Pope Francis goes off-script in Asia and reminds world he can still draw a crowd
Voice of America
Pope Francis leaves after leading a holy mass at Tasitolu park in Dili, East Timor, Sept. 10, 2024. Pope Francis holds a news conference aboard the papal plane on his flight back after his 12-day journey across Southeast Asia and Oceania, Sept. 13, 2024. Pope Francis, left, meets with indigenous people at the Holy Trinity Humanistic School in Baro, near Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, Sept. 8, 2024. Pope Francis receives a gift from the Archbishop of Dili Cardinal Virgilio do Carmo da Silva at the end of a votive mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen he presided over in Tasitolu, some 8 kilometers west of Dili, East Timor, Sept. 10, 2024. In this handout photograph taken on Sept. 13, 2024 and released by Vatican Media, Pope Francis (C) takes part in an interreligious meeting with young people at the Catholic Junior College in Singapore.
It was the farthest trip of his pontificate and one of the longest papal trips ever in terms of days on the road and distance traveled. But Pope Francis, age 87, hobbled by bad knees and bent over with sciatica, appeared to be having the time of his life.
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missiles launch during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 18, 2024. This undated photo released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on Sept. 13, 2024 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting a test firing of a new-type 600mm multiple rocket launcher at an undisclosed ocation in North Korea.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, cormorants are silhouetted against the full moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Qiqihar, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Sept. 17, 2024. A supermoon rises behind clouds over Larnaca International Airport on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Sept. 17, 2024. The full moon is shrouded in cloud above a Hong Kong skyscraper on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional holiday around Asia, Sept. 17, 2024.
A woman sits near the entrance of Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital, where women have begun receiving treatment for obstetric fistula, in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, some 150 kms west of the capital Harare, Sept. 17, 2024. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA) Female patients chat in the gynecology ward at Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, Sept. 17, 2024. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)
An ambulance arrives to American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as more than 1,000 people were wounded when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 17, 2024. A Civil Defense first responder carries a wounded man whose handheld pager exploded at al-Zahraa hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 17, 2024. A soldier looks on near American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as more than 1,000 people were wounded when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 17, 2024. A police officer inspects a car in which a hand-held pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 17, 2024.
A picture taken from northern Israel shows flares launched by the Israeli army over the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on Sept 16, 2024. Israel's opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid delivers a statement to the press following his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department in Washington, Sept. 16, 2024. Trucks carrying aid line up near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt, Sept. 9, 2024.