Pope Francis, 86, canceled his appointments Friday morning because of a feverish state, the Vatican said against the background of regular concerns about the Argentine pontiff's health.

"Due to a feverish state, Pope Francis did not receive an audience this morning," Holy See spokesman Matteo Bruni said, without specifying what the Argentine pope's planned morning program was.

This announcement comes two months after the pope's hospitalization for three days in Rome at the end of March due to pneumonia, from which he had emerged after a cure of antibiotics.

Pope Francis said Thursday in an interview with Spanish television Telemundo that this pneumonia had been treated "in time." "If we had waited a few more hours, it would have been much more serious," he said.

As for his knee pain, which forces him to move in a wheelchair or with the help of a cane, he said he feels "much better." "Some days are more painful than others, like today, but that's part of recovery," he said.

Asked about his health at the end of April, upon returning from a trip to Hungary, the Pope expressed his intention to continue traveling: he must travel to Lisbon from August 2 to 6 for World Youth Days (WYD) and then to Marseille in September, as well as to Mongolia.

The Pope usually receives his interlocutors - associations, religious, heads of state - in the morning at the Vatican for official audiences in which he regularly delivers speeches, while his afternoons are dedicated to work and his private appointments.

Despite his advanced age, the head of the Catholic Church maintains a steady rhythm in his appointments, sometimes receiving a dozen interlocutors in a morning. On Thursday he addressed in particular the religious, the Italian bishops' conference and a group of young people from the educational network Scholas Occurrentes.

Health problems

The health of Jorge Bergoglio, elected in 2013, regularly fuels speculation about the possibility of a resignation from his position and his succession.

He said on several occasions that he would consider resigning - like his predecessor Benedict XVI, who died in December - if his health weakened, but recently claimed it was not topical.

In July 2021, the bishop of Rome had already been hospitalized for 10 days for a heavy colon operation. He claims that he has suffered "sequelae" of anesthesia, which has led him to rule out surgery on his knee.

During an interview in January, Jorge Bergoglio said they again suffer from diverticulitis, an inflammation of diverticula, hernias or pouches that form in the walls of the digestive tract.

The Pope is constantly followed by a team of caretakers, both in the Vatican and on his trips abroad.

A precaution all the more necessary since he has behind him a heavy medical past: at the age of 21 he had suffered acute pleurisy and surgeons had proceeded to partially remove his right lung.

  • Pope Francis I
  • the Vatican

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more