Pope Francis has been admitted to hospital after a week-long bout of bronchitis worsened and is receiving drug therapy, the Vatican said.
It is the latest issue with the 88-year-old pontiff’s health that has forced him to cancel his agenda until Monday at least.
Francis was serene, in good spirits and had read some newspapers after arriving at Rome’s Gemelli hospital after presiding over his morning audiences, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
In an evening bulletin, the Vatican said preliminary tests showed Francis had a respiratory tract infection, was running a mild fever and was in a “fair” condition at Gemelli where he is undergoing drug therapy.
Francis has complained of breathing trouble and was diagnosed with bronchitis on February 6, but had continued to hold daily audiences in his Vatican hotel suite.
He had presided at an outdoor Mass on Sunday and attended his general audience on Wednesday.
But he has been handing off his speeches for an aide to read aloud, saying he was having trouble breathing.
On Friday, he appeared bloated and pale during the handful of audiences he held before going to the hospital.
The bloating appeared to indicate that the medication he was taking to help treat the lung infection was making him retain water.
Christopher Lamb, CNN’s Vatican correspondent, saw Francis at the beginning of an audience on Friday with CNN head Mark Thompson, and said the pope was mentally alert but struggling to speak for extended periods due to breathing difficulties.
Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has long battled health problems, especially bouts of acute bronchitis in winter.
He uses a wheelchair, walker or cane when moving around his apartment and recently fell twice, hurting his arm and chin.
Francis is being treated at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he was last admitted in June 2023 to have surgery to remove intestinal scar tissue and repair a hernia in the abdominal wall.
A few months before that, he spent three days in Gemelli to receive intravenous antibiotics for a respiratory infection.
He later revealed that he had been rushed to the hospital on March 29 2023 after spiking a high fever and feeling a sharp pain in his chest.
He said he was diagnosed with what he said was “an acute and strong pneumonia, in the lower part of the lungs”.
The Vatican said Francis was admitted to Gemelli after his Friday audiences.
In addition to regular Vatican officials and Mr Thompson, the pope met on Friday morning with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
“This morning, at the end of the audiences, Pope Francis will be admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic for some necessary diagnostic tests and to continue in a hospital setting treatment for bronchitis that is still ongoing,” a Vatican statement said.
No details were given about the duration of Francis’s hospital admission, but the Vatican later announced the pope was cancelling his participation in Holy Year events until Monday.
The pope had a busy weekend agenda planned, including an audience with artists in town for the jubilee on Saturday, a Mass for them on Sunday and a trip to Rome’s famed Cinecitta studios on Monday.
While a Vatican cardinal will preside over the Mass in Francis’s place, the Vatican said the other events were cancelled “due to the impossibility of the pope to participate”.
At Gemelli, where popes enjoy a private suite on the hospital’s 10th floor, passers-by were concerned but hopeful.
Votive candles, including some featuring Francis’s photo, surrounded the statue of St John Paul II that greets visitors at the hospital entrance.
“I wish with all my heart that he will get better because these awful illnesses, you don’t wish them on anyone,” said Nino Davi, who himself was receiving treatment at Gemelli and had arrived earlier on Friday from Palermo, Sicily.
“So I wish with all my heart that he gets better.”
