Pope Francis is suffering from a respiratory infection and has to be treated in hospital for a few days.
The Vatican has canceled all Holy Father appointments for Thursday and Friday.
This was announced by the spokesman for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, in the evening.
The head of the Catholic Church was taken to Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital in the afternoon. According to Bruni, the 86-year-old has complained of breathing problems in the past few days. An infection was then found during tests in the hospital. It is not a corona infection.
In the morning, the pontiff held his weekly general audience in front of thousands of believers on St. Peter’s Square. After that, a TV interview was actually planned. But Francis had to cancel this and was taken to the hospital instead, the Italian media said.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Vatican said that the Pope was in the hospital “for some planned examinations”. However, observers in Rome considered it unusual to have allegedly planned extensive investigations so shortly before Palm Sunday and the Holy Week before Easter.
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