Antonino Galofaro with AFP
modified to
07:29, March 30, 2023
Pope Francis spent a first night in the hospital in Rome where he was admitted on Wednesday to treat a respiratory infection for “a few days”, a new alert for the head of the Catholic Church, who at 86 years old suffers from health problems. chronic health.
The contradictory information distilled by the Vatican has raised concerns about the real state of health of the Argentine pope. After mentioning “scheduled exams”, the Vatican spokesman said Wednesday evening that he finally suffered from a “respiratory infection”. “In recent days, Pope Francis has had difficulty breathing and (…) he was admitted to the A. Gemelli polyclinic for medical checks”, explained Matteo Bruni.
These analyzes “revealed a respiratory infection” unrelated to Covid-19 and the pope will have to undergo treatment in hospital for “a few days”, he added. The Vatican did not say whether the pope would be able to preside over Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican, or the celebrations planned for Holy Week and Easter. He is also due to travel to Budapest at the end of April. Wednesday morning, Jorge Bergoglio had however participated as every Wednesday in the general audience in Saint Peter’s Square, during which he appeared smiling, greeting the faithful of his “papamobile”.
Resignation not ruled out
François, who has been in a wheelchair since May 2022 due to chronic knee pain, had already been hospitalized for ten days at Gemelli Hospital in July 2021 for a major colon operation. He admitted having kept “after-effects” of the anesthesia, which led him to rule out knee surgery so far.
The pain caused by this joint, which notably forced him to cancel several appointments in 2022 and to postpone a trip to Africa, is at the heart of conjecture about his possible resignation. The head of the Catholic Church has always left the door open to this possibility. His predecessor Benedict XVI resigned in 2013, taking the world by surprise. François, for his part, blows hot and cold on this delicate subject.
After having mentioned in July the possibility of “putting oneself aside”, he had judged in February that the resignation of a pope should “not become a fashion”, assuring that this hypothesis was “not on his agenda for the moment “. The pope is constantly followed by a team of caregivers, whether in the Vatican or during his trips abroad. A precaution all the more necessary since this octogenarian has a heavy medical history behind him: at 21, he almost died of pleurisy and suffered a partial ablation of one of his lungs.