VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis, whose trip to Dubai for COP28 had to be canceled for health reasons, appeared tired and had to cut short his speech on Wednesday during his weekly audience at the Vatican.
The sovereign pontiff let an assistant read his text for him, explaining that he “still didn’t feel well with this flu” and that his voice, which was wheezing, “wasn’t pretty.”
Vatican doctors announced Tuesday that the pope, who is 86 years old, would not travel to the United Arab Emirates on Friday as he had planned due to lung inflammation and his flu-like condition.
(Alvise Armellini, Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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