On Wednesday Pope Francis was taken to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital after his weekly general audience in the Vatican for a medical examination, sources said. He has been suffering from a cold and flu-like symptoms.
ANSA called it “a flying visit,”, the pope returning to the Vatican shortly after. However, The New York Times instead wrote that the 87-year-old pontiff had gone for “some diagnostic tests,” but did not offer details. Both sources concurred that the visit had lasted less than an hour.
Earlier in the day, Francis had apologized to those in attendance for his weekly audience, explaining that he still had “a slight cold” and that an assistant would read his message. Following the end of the audience, the pope greeted the faithful for approximately an hour while seated in a wheelchair.
Francis arrived at the Hospital on Wednesday at approximately 11:20 a.m. and departed approximately 40 minutes later, according to traffic police officials at the Gemelli Hospital on Tiber Island.
For a few days now, the pope has been under the weather. The Vatican said that Francis’s public audiences on Saturday were postponed “due to a slight flu.” He said the Angelus prayer and benediction the following day from his apartment, which had a view of St. Peter’s Square. He also did not participate in the traditional procession at the start of Lent two weeks ago.
Given his age, the pontiff’s health is of great concern. He has been hospitalized numerous times in the past few years. In June he underwent surgery for an incisional hernia, caused most likely by previous operations. In 2021 he had colon surgery, and in March last year he was hospitalized because of an infection.
There is also the fact that as a young man he lost part of his lung because of an infection, so he is vulnerable to respiratory infections.
To safeguard his health, on various occasions doctors have advised him to cancel travel plans, as occurred this past November when Francis did not attend the United Nations climate summit in Dubai after a bout of flu and lung inflammation.
For some time now the Pope gets around in a wheelchair.
