Pope Francis, who has had a light flu in current days, was taken to a hospital in downtown Rome on Wednesday, reviving considerations concerning the 87-year outdated pontiff’s well being. The Vatican stated in an announcement that he had gone for “some diagnostic exams,” however didn’t supply particulars a few go to that lasted lower than an hour.
At his weekly viewers earlier within the day, Francis had apologized to these current, saying that an assistant would learn his speech as a result of he nonetheless had “a slight chilly.” After the viewers ended, the pope spent about an hour greeting the devoted whereas sitting in a wheelchair that he has more and more used lately.
Site visitors law enforcement officials on the Gemelli Hospital on Tiber Island stated that Francis arrived round 11:20 a.m. on Wednesday and left about 40 minutes later.
The pope has been below the climate for a number of days. On Saturday, Francis’s public audiences have been canceled “on account of a slight flu,” in line with the Vatican. The subsequent day, he recited the Angelus prayer and blessing from his condo overlooking St. Peter’s Sq., however his audiences have been once more canceled on Monday as a result of his “flu signs continued, and not using a fever,” the Vatican stated on the time.
Francis additionally didn’t take part within the conventional procession firstly of Lent two weeks in the past.
Francis’s well being has been a supply of concern. The pontiff has been hospitalized thrice in two years, most just lately in June, when surgeons operated on an incisional hernia, usually a consequence of earlier operations, that had been inflicting painful intestinal blockages. He additionally had colon surgical procedure in 2021, and in March final 12 months he was hospitalized due to a respiratory an infection.
In November, below docs’ orders, Francis didn’t attend the United Nations local weather summit in Dubai after a bout of flu and lung irritation. He misplaced a part of a lung to an an infection as a youngster.
Jason Horowitz contributed reporting.
