ROME — The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis’ trip to two African nations, previously postponed due to health issues, has been definitively canceled and the Vatican Secretary of State will go in his place.

“Following the postponement of his Apostolic Journey to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to South Sudan, His Holiness Pope Francis has decided to send the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to Kinshasa and Juba in order to show his closeness to the beloved peoples of the Congo and South Sudan,” reads a Vatican communiqué.

Cardinal Parolin will visit the DRC and South Sudan from 1 to 8 July 2022, the Vatican added.

In early June, news of the postponement of the papal trip fueled rumors that Francis might be considering resigning from the papacy as his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, did in 2013.

The 85-year-old pontiff has suffered a series of health setbacks, including sciatica and the removal of a segment of his colon last summer. In early May he began regularly using a wheelchair because of acute knee pain.

Moreover, on May 29, the pope announced a new batch of 21 cardinals to be given the red hat at a consistory to be held on August 27, taken by some to be a further sign of a possible papal retirement.

Spanish painter and co-founder of the Neocatecumenal Way, Kiko Arguello (Front C) speaks as Pope Francis holds an audience to the Neocatecumenal Way Communities on June 27, 2022 at Paul-VI hall in The Vatican. (ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images)

Nonetheless, last week the Vatican released the program for Pope Francis’ trip to Canada, due to take place from July 24 to 29. The pope is slated to meet with Indigenous Peoples from First Nations, Métis and Inuit in the city of Maskwacis, around 70 kilometers north of Edmonton, after which he will return to Edmonton for yet another meeting with Indigenous Peoples and members of the parish community of the Sacred Heart.

Following the western leg of his visit, the pope will depart for Quebec City on Wednesday, July 27, where he will again meet with Indigenous peoples as well as civil authorities.

Last week, Vatican Cardinal Kevin Farrell dismissed speculation on the pope’s possible resignation, calling the rumor “wishful thinking” on the part of the pope’s enemies.

Cardinal Farrell’s remarks echoed a similar assessment of the rumors by Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, a friend and adviser of Pope Francis, who dubbed such speculation nothing more than “a cheap soap opera.”

Reports suggesting the pope’s health will lead to a new conclave are “fake news,” Maradiaga said, adding that these stories originate primarily from the United States, where the pope faces “strong opposition.”

Attempts to attribute the rumors to English-speaking enemies of the pope struck many Vatican observers as strange, since the speculation was triggered by a June 4 article by Nicole Winfield in the Associated Press (AP), hardly known for its conservative leanings.