2023-06-07 08:12:02
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis attended his weekly general audience on Wednesday, a day following going to the hospital for a medical checkup.
The Vatican did not provide details regarding the medical tests Francis underwent at Rome’s Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic hospital on Tuesday. The 86-year-old pontiff appeared in fine form in his audience in St. Peter’s Square, which he toured aboard his popemobile and greeted worshipers. Before that act, he had held two meetings, the Holy See explained.
At the end of March, Francisco spent three days in the same hospital in the Italian capital. At first, the Vatican said that he had come for tests already planned, but the pope himself later revealed that he felt chest pain and was transferred to the center, where he was diagnosed with bronchitis. He was treated with intravenous antibiotics and, when he was discharged on April 1, he joked that he was “still alive.”
The Argentine pontiff had part of a lung removed when he was young. He also suffers from sciatica and has used a wheelchair and walker for the past year because of a strained knee ligament.
He has had a busy schedule lately, with several hearings a day. The Vatican recently confirmed that it will make several trips in August, when the Holy See and Italy usually take vacations, with a four-day visit to Portugal in the first week of August and a similar-length trip to Mongolia starting on August 31. .
In an indication that the trips were still on, the Vatican published the planned itinerary for the pope’s visit to Portugal between August 2 and 6 on the occasion of World Youth Day. The program confirms the usual tight schedule of protocol meetings for a state visit, as well as various events with young people and a day trip to the sanctuary of the Virgin of Fatima.
1686126538
#Pope #attends #general #audience #medical #examination