Pope Denies Resignation Rumors, Hopes to Visit Kyiv and Moscow

Pope Denies Resignation Rumors, Hopes to Visit Kyiv and Moscow
Pope Francis recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in Rome on July 3, 2022. Andrew Medichini/AP Photo
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ROME—Pope Francis has dismissed rumors he plans to resign anytime soon, and says that he hopes to visit Moscow and Kyiv after traveling to Canada later this month.

Francis also told Reuters in an interview published Monday that the idea “never entered my mind” to announce a planned retirement at the end of the summer, though he repeated he might step down some day as Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI did in 2013.