Pope Francis, who turned 88 last month and asked an aide to read a major speech last week due to a cold, says in a new book that he feels healthy and has no plans to resign as leader of the global Catholic Church.

ROME — An introspective Pope Francis has divulged some of the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the secret 2013 conclave that elected him pope and the resistance he has encountered ever since, in his autobiography being released Tuesday that also doubles down on some of his more controversial decisions as pontiff.

The book, which was six years in the making, vividly recreates Francis’ childhood in Buenos Aires but offers few new insights into his papacy.

In a new book, Pope Francis said he feels “all right” despite his illnesses. “The reality is, quite simply, that I am old,” he says in “Hope: The Autobiography”, which was co-written with the Italian journalist Carlo Musso.

Hope,” the autobiography of Pope Francis, hit the shelves of Italian bookstores Tuesday and will be on sale starting Jan. 16 in more than 100 countries.