Pope Francis seen in wheelchair following knee surgery

May 5 (UPI) -- Following Pope Francis's announcement of a minor knee operation, the 85-year-old pontiff was seen in public using a wheelchair on Thursday.

The sighting is the first since the pope required a wheelchair upon leaving the hospital after colon surgery last July.

Knee pain that has plagued the pope has led to recent canceled engagements. On April 26, the Holy See Press Office announced his absence from planned activities as he followed medical advice.

The head of the Catholic Church was transported by wheelchair on Thursday to a Vatican City meeting with nuns and mother superior from across the globe attending the International Union of Superiors General.

He shared Tuesday in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that a strained ligament required a minor "intervention with infiltration" on his knee, the Guardian reported.

"There is a problem, this knee doesn't work," he said to a crowd of bishops from Slovakia at an engagement last week, as reported in The Guardian. "I have to obey the doctor, who told me not to walk."