Until the end, Pope Francis believed he could go there. But on Tuesday evening, November 28, a brief press release from the Vatican announced the cancellation, for health reasons, of the participation of the head of the Catholic Church in the COP28 climate conference, in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, before which he was scheduled to speak on Saturday, December 2. Francis was particularly keen on this visit, which would have been the first by a pope to a climate summit. But, to his “great regret”specifies the press release, he had to give it up at the urging of his doctors, “although the general clinical condition of the Holy Father regarding influenza and inflammation of the respiratory tract has improved.”
This last minute decision immediately raised questions about the real state of health of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who will be 87 years old on December 17. The climate crisis and its human repercussions are at the heart of his pontificate. He dedicated to them the first encyclical from a pope on this subject (Laudato siin 2015) and, in October, an apostolic exhortation (Laudate deum).
Surgeon’s press briefing
For several days Francis has been suffering from what was initially described as “mild flu”. On Saturday, he had to cancel an audience with the president of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo. On Sunday, he was not able to say the Angelus from the window of the apostolic palace, as tradition dictates. He spoke from the Sainte-Marthe residence, where his apartment is located, himself evoking a “inflammation of the lungs” before handing over to one of his colleagues.
Then, his activities for the week were lightened to allow him to rest before the COP. On Tuesday, the Vatican even presented the agenda for this thirty-six hour trip to Dubai, during which the Pope had planned no less than thirty meetings, including twenty with heads of state, in addition to his speech. .
This alert on the pope’s health follows other medical concerns. In March, he was hospitalized without warning for infectious bronchitis. A worrying condition when part of a lung was amputated at the age of 21, following pleurisy. Subsequently, Francis maintained a trip to Budapest in April. But, in June, he was hospitalized again, this time for an operation on the digestive system, a continuation of the intervention already carried out on the head of the Catholic Church in 2021.
On this occasion, the Vatican felt obliged to engage in an unusual communication exercise: the pope’s surgeon himself gave press briefings detailing his state of health. This guarantee of transparency was intended to avoid speculation about his condition and, therefore, his ability to continue to exercise his functions.
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