Pope Francis has a respiratory infection and will need to be hospitalized for “a few days,” the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday, amid concern for the 86-year-health. old’s
According to the statement, the 86-year-old pontiff was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital after complaining of breathing difficulties for several days. According to the report, tests revealed that he had the infection but lacked COVID-19.
The Vatican said, “Pope Francis is touched by the many messages received and expresses his gratitude for the closeness and prayer.”
Francis, who celebrated his tenth year as Pope this month, is occasionally short of breath and is more vulnerable to respiratory problems in general. In his early twenties, while studying to be a priest in Argentina, he had a portion of one lung removed.
His latest hospitalization comes just days before a Palm Sunday service on April 2, which kicks off a hectic week of ceremonies leading up to Easter Sunday on April 9, casting doubt on his ability to lead them as is customary.
Francis’ health has come under increased scrutiny in the last two years, during which time he has had colon surgery and has begun using a wheelchair or a walking stick due to chronic pain in one knee.
The Vatican initially stated that the pope had gone to the hospital on Wednesday for a routine check-up. However, according to Italian media, he arrived in an ambulance after canceling a television interview at the last minute.
Francis had appeared in good health at his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square in the morning.
‘WE NEED HIM’
The faithful in Argentina prayed for the pope’s recovery, as he has not returned to his homeland since leaving for the Vatican a decade ago.
“If the Pope could listen to us, I would tell him that we need him because the reform that he faced is not complete,” said Marcela Mazzini, a professor at Buenos Aires’ Inmaculada Concepcion Seminary, where the pope, then known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, studied.
The country that the first Latin American Pope left behind is deeply divided, with 99% inflation and nearly 40% poverty.
“I don’t think you’ll leave without coming to Argentina first,” engineer Santiago Goggi, 40, said as he sat on the seminary steps, obliquely referring to the pope’s eventual demise. “You must come see us.”
The future Pope, the son of Italian immigrants, lived modestly as archbishop of Buenos Aires, taking public transportation and keeping a low profile when visiting the poor in shanty towns, where many remember him.
Daniel Saco, a 59-year-old former catechist at the city’s cathedral, said Francis “must be wondering if he can or cannot go on.” He must be praying and requesting that the entire Catholic world prays for him. He always says, ‘Pray for me,’ and his conscience must be open to what God dictates.”
HEALTH CONDITIONS
The world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholic leaders suffer from diverticulitis, a condition that can infect or inflame the colon, and was operated on in 2021 at the Gemelli hospital to remove part of his colon.
He stated in January that the condition had returned and was causing him to gain weight, but he was not concerned. He didn’t go into detail.
Francis told Reuters last year that he did not want to have surgery on his troublesome knee because he did not want to experience the same long-term negative side effects from anesthesia that he did after the 2021 operation.
Last July, on his way back from a trip to Canada, Francis acknowledged that his advancing age and difficulty walking may have signaled the beginning of a new, slower phase of his papacy.
He has since visited Kazakhstan and Bahrain, as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.
He has also agreed to visit Hungary in late April, Portugal in August, and Marseille in September. He has stated that if possible, he would like to fly from Marseille to Mongolia.
After praising his late predecessor Benedict XVI’s historic decision to resign on health grounds in 2013, Francis has indicated that he would follow in his late predecessor’s footsteps only if he were gravely ill.
When asked by Italian Swiss television RSI on March 12 what condition would cause him to resign, he said “A tiredness that prevents you from seeing clearly. a lack of clarity in determining how to assess situations “.
