ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) – Pope Francis has explained why he took a tumble last week during a public Mass outdoors in Poland.
Reporters aboard the papal plane flying him back to Rome after the five-day trip to Poland asked him Sunday night why he fell while sprinkling incense around the outdoor altar at the Jasna Gora monastery in front of a huge crowd at Poland’s most popular Catholic shrine.
Francis says the July 28 tumble happened this way: “I was watching (an image of) the Madonna, and I forgot the step.”
He said, “I let myself fall, and this saved me. Because if I tried to resist it, I would have gotten hurt.”
Vatican officials said Francis, 79, was uninjured.
