Pope Francis was taken to hospital on Wednesday after telling worshippers at his weekly audience that he had not yet recovered from the symptoms of flu.
The Vatican press office said Francis, 87, had been taken to Gemelli hospital in Rome for “diagnostic tests” before returning to the Vatican soon afterwards. In a statement on Monday, it had said he was suffering from “light” flu symptoms.
“I still have a bit of a cold,” the pope, who has scaled back his agenda in recent days, told worshippers.
Monsignor Filippo Ciampanelli, one of his aides, read the catechesis during the audience as he had done on previous occasions when the pope was feeling unwell.
Francis, who has been blighted by ill health in recent years, was admitted to the Gemelli in March last year with acute bronchitis. Initially, the Vatican said he was there for scheduled tests, but the pontiff later revealed he had felt pain in his chest and was rushed to the hospital, where bronchitis was diagnosed. After being discharged, he quipped: “I am still alive.”
He was readmitted to the Gemelli in June for health checks.
In November, Francis, who is often seen in a wheelchair or with a walking stick because of sciatic nerve pain and a knee problem, said during an audience with European rabbis that he was not feeling well, which the Vatican spokesperson, Matteo Bruni, said at the time was “just a bit of a cold”.
Francis had part of a lung removed in his early 20s while training to be a priest in his native Argentina. In June 2021 he underwent a colon operation.
He has often alluded to resigning if bad health prevents him from doing his job. In December he revealed that he had chosen his burial place – the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in the Esquilino neighbourhood of Rome – breaking with the longstanding tradition of popes being buried in the grottos beneath St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
