Pope Francis, 85, dismisses media speculation he's poised to retire

Pope Francis is dismissed reports that he plans to resign in the near future.

The Pope dismissed the speculation in an exclusive Reuters interview published Monday. 

Francis, in the Vatican interview, says he plans to visit Canada this month, then hopes to visit Moscow and Kyiv as soon as possible.

He also denied rumors, in a 90-minute interview Saturday, that he had cancer, saying jokingly that his doctors "didn't tell me anything about it," and for the first time gave details of the knee condition that has prevented him carrying out some duties.

The 85-year-old pontiff also repeated his condemnation of abortion, following the recent Supreme Court ruling that ended the decades-old constitutional right to one in the United States, in an interview conducted in Italian and with no aides present, according to the wire service. 

Media speculation about a retirement centered on events about a year ago that included meetings with the world's cardinals to discuss a new Vatican constitution, a ceremony to induct new cardinals and a visit to L'Aquila, the Italian city associated with Pope Celestine V, who resigned the papacy in 1294.

Pope Benedict XVI visited the city four years before he resigned in 2013, the first pope to do so in about 600 years, Reuters also reports.