THE VATICAN HAS cancelled two of Pope Francis’s events at the weekend as the 88-year-old continues to receive hospital treatment for bronchitis.
The Holy See had already indicated yesterday that the pontiff, who was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Friday, would stay longer than initially believed due to a “complex” clinical picture.
“Due to the health conditions of the Holy Father, the Jubilee audience of Saturday 22 February is cancelled,” it said in a statement this morning.
It added that the pontiff has delegated a senior Vatican clergyman to celebrate a planned mass on Sunday morning.
The Vatican did not mention the Angelus prayer, which the pope normally delivers at midday on Sunday, but which he missed last weekend.
Francis, the head of the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to hospital after struggling for several days to read his texts in public.
It is the latest of a series of health issues for the Argentine Jesuit, who has undergone hernia and colon surgery since 2021, and uses a wheelchair for a sore knee.
In his recently released autobiography, Hope, Francis revealed that he felt it was “embarrassing at first to have to use a wheelchair”.
“But old age never arrives by itself, and it must be accepted for what it is,” added Francis.
In a statement yesterday, the Vatican said tests had confirmed “a polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract that has led to a further change in treatment”.
“All the tests carried out until now are indicative of a complex clinical picture that will require adequate hospitalisation,” it said.
In an update later yesterday evening, it said his condition was unchanged.
“The Holy Father remains without a fever and is proceeding with the prescribed treatment,” it added.
He had on Monday morning “received the Eucharist and subsequently dedicated himself to some work and reading texts”, it said.
“Pope Francis is touched by the numerous messages of affection and closeness he continues to receive,” it added.
Despite his health troubles, Francis has remained an active pontiff.
In September 2024, he completed a four-nation Asia-Pacific tour, the longest of his papacy by duration and distance.
“I never imagined that I would have made all those journeys to more than sixty countries,” Francis wrote in his memoir.
He also revealed that he “had the feeling” that his papacy would be “brief, no more than three or four years”.
In his memoir, Francis also remarked that “each time a pope takes ill, the winds of a conclave always feel as if they are blowing”.
While Francis said the “reality is that I never thought of resigning”, he acknowledged that resigning is “always a possibility” and that should he resign, he would “remain in Rome, as emeritus bishop”.