2023-11-29 09:48:01
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis presided over his weekly public audience at the Vatican on Wednesday but said he is still unwell and asked an aide to read his remarks a day following canceling a trip abroad.
The Argentine pontiff, who will turn 87 on December 17 and who has been missing part of a lung since he was young, stood up briefly at the beginning of the event in a Vatican auditorium and crossed himself before sitting down.
In a soft voice, little more than a whisper, Francis told attendees that “since I am not well,” the reading of his speech would not sound “pretty.” He then handed the printed speech to an aide as he remained seated on the stage.
The Vatican announced Tuesday that doctors asked the pope, who suffers from lung inflammation that causes breathing problems, to cancel a three-day trip to attend the United Nations climate conference, known as COP28, in Dubai. The trip would have started on Friday and the pope would have been back in Rome on Sunday.
The Holy See’s announcement noted that the pontiff’s health had improved although he was suffering from the flu and “inflammation of the respiratory tract.”
Francis, who has made caring for the environment a priority of his papacy, wanted to participate in some way in the Conference of the Parties in the United Arab Emirates, according to the Vatican. It was unclear whether he would be able to read his speech via video conference or be present in some other way.
According to the Vatican, the pontiff accepted the doctors’ request “with great regret.”
The pope was hospitalized earlier this year receiving intravenous antibiotics to treat what the Vatican reported as bronchitis.
According to the Holy See, the pope is receiving intravenous antibiotics to cure the flu. In a televised appearance Sunday, an intravenous cannula might be seen in his right hand. Francis underwent a CT scan at a Rome hospital on Nov. 25 that ruled out pneumonia, he noted.
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