Pope Francis was taken to a hospital in central Rome after the papal audience Wednesday, the Vatican said.
Francis, 87, reportedly has been suffering from the flu.
He previously canceled meetings on Saturday and Monday.
“After the general audience Pope Francis went to the Gemelli Isola Tiberina Hospital for some diagnostic tests,” a Vatican official said, according to ABC News.
“Afterwards, he returned to the Vatican.”
JUST IN — Pope Francis taken to hospital after suffering from the flu.
The pontiff returned home after having canceled a few appointments in the last week.https://t.co/R1oSMFlYOr
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 28, 2024
Pope Francis has been admitted to the hospital multiple times in the past year.
ABC News reports:
Francis, 87, had been admitted to the hospital several times last year. He had bronchitis in March and had intestinal surgery in early June, the Vatican said at the time.
Francis is scheduled on Saturday, March 2, to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, followed on Sunday by an appearance at a noontime prayer, according to the Vatican.
The pope’s official X account posted a message on Wednesday after his visit to the hospital.
“In this time of #Lent, let us strive not to put ourselves at the centre; rather, let us try to step aside to make room for others, to promote them, and to rejoice in their qualities and successes,” the account said.
In this time of #Lent, let us strive not to put ourselves at the centre; rather, let us try to step aside to make room for others, to promote them, and to rejoice in their qualities and successes. #GeneralAudience
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) February 28, 2024
WATCH:
Pope Francis was taken to the hospital earlier today. He is now back at the Vatican. @keirsimmons reports on the breaking details. pic.twitter.com/RB7iJFYwWt
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 28, 2024
From the National Catholic Reporter:
In November and January when the Vatican said the pope had “flu-like symptoms” they were respiratory difficulties, which Francis described as bronchitis.
At a Jan. 12 meeting with Catholic communicators from France, the pope skipped reading his prepared text because, he told the group, “I have a bit of bronchitis, and I can’t speak well.”
In late November and early December, he also suffered from what he described as a very serious bronchial infection.
“Thank God it was not pneumonia,” he told a group of health care managers. “I no longer have a fever, but I am still on antibiotics and things like that,” he had said.
He had canceled his appointments Nov. 25 because of what the press office described as “flu-like symptoms” and went that afternoon to a Rome hospital for a CT scan of his chest. In the following days, he canceled some appointments and had aides read his prepared texts at other events.
That bout of respiratory difficulties also was what led him to cancel his plans to travel to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates Dec. 1-3 to address the U.N. Climate Change Conference.
Suffering from a respiratory infection, he also spent four days in March at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
He had undergone surgery in 1957 to remove part of one of his lungs after suffering a severe respiratory infection. He has insisted the operation has had no lasting impact on his health.
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