Pope Francis, who turned 86 on Saturday, signed a letter of resignation after his election in 2013, which will be used if one day serious and persistent health problems make it impossible to fulfill his duties.. He spoke about this in an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC..

Francis added that he delivered the letter to the then Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who remained in office after the previous papacy of Benedict XVI for about six months after Francis was elected on March 13, 2013..

" I do not know to whom Cardinal Bertone may have given it, however, I gave the papers to him when he was secretary of state,” Francis said, adding that this is the first time he speaks about it publicly.

“Now someone will go ask Bertone for this: “Give me a piece of paper! » (laughs). He probably gave it to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the new Secretary of State,” he added..

He suggested that Pope Paul VI (1963–1978) and Pope Pius XII (1939–1958) signed similar resignations.. However, both of them died while in office..

The pontiff has repeatedly said he would step down if his health prevented him from leading the Roman Catholic Church, which has 1.3 billion members..

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The previous head of the Vatican, Benedict XVI, resigned in 2013.. It was the first resignation of a pope in six centuries..

However, Francis appears to be doing well despite knee problems.. He uses a cane for short walks and a wheelchair for long distances..

Since July, the Pontiff has made three international trips: to Canada, Kazakhstan and Bahrain, and plans to visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan early next year..

Recently, Pope Francis burst into tears, remembering the suffering of Ukrainians during a traditional prayer in the center of Rome on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

When Russia invaded its neighbor in February, Francis referred to Ukraine in almost all of his public speeches.. Although not from the very beginning, but now he is increasingly critical of Moscow, but still avoids direct mention of the initiator of the war, Vladimir Putin.

In the end, he explained why he does not publicly criticize the President of the Russian Federation.