After washing the feet of inmates on Thursday, Pope Francis revealed that he suffers from cataracts and is expected to have surgery for the condition next year.
As he prepared to leave the Regina Coeli prison, Francis told the staff and inmates about his cataracts and advised them to clear their eyes each day so they will be able to see and spread hope.
"At my age, for example, cataracts come and you don't see reality well. Next year I have to have an operation," the Pope said, as reported by the Associated Press.
Paloma Garcia Ovejero, the Vatican's deputy spokeswoman, confirmed that the pontiff was due to have a cataract surgery next year, but declined to provide further details on the exact date.
The Pope had visited the prison in Rome on Holy Thursday to perform the foot washing ceremony, which serves as a reminder to the way Jesus washed the feet of his 12 apostles the night before he died.
As part of the ritual Francis washed the feet of 12 inmates, eight of whom were Catholic, two were Muslims, one was an Orthodox Christian and one was Buddhist. Four of the inmates were from Italy, two were from Morocco and two were from the Philippines. The others were from Moldova, Columbia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
Francis also paid a visit to prisoners in the infirmary as well as inmates housed in a protected area designated for those convicted of sexual offenses.
The Pope delivered a sermon that focused on serving others, suggesting that many wars could have been avoided if leaders followed the example of Jesus "rather than command and be cruel and kill people."
Before leaving the prison, the Pope expressed his opposition to the death penalty. He insisted that prison sentences are meant to prepare inmates to face society again and live as good citizens. The pontiff further argued that punishments should be "open to hope."
"Each punishment has to be open to the horizon of hope and so the death penalty is neither Christian nor humane," he said, as reported by Reuters.
According to Vatican News, Francis began his annual foot washing ritual when he was still an archbishop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His visit to Regina Coeli prison was the fourth time that he had spent Holy Thursday in a detention facility since he was elected Pope.
In 2013, Francis celebrated his first Holy Thursday as Pope in a juvenile facility. He performed Mass as well as the foot-washing ceremony at Rebibbia prison in Rome in 2015 and visited another prison facility in the Italian town of Paliano last year.
