VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis cancelled official engagements for the third day in a row Saturday as he battled an apparent cold.
The 83-year-old pope, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory illness as a young man, has never cancelled so many official audiences or events in his seven-year papacy.
Francis is, however, continuing to work from his residence at the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel and is receiving people in private, the Vatican press office said. On Saturday, those private meetings were with the head of the Vatican’s bishops’ office, Francis’ ambassadors to Lebanon and France and a Ukrainian archbishop.
Cancelled were his two planned official audiences — formal affairs in the Apostolic Palace where Francis would have delivered a speech and greeted a great number of people at the end. Those were to include an audience with an international bioethics organization and with members of the scandal-marred Legion of Christ religious order.
AI power players pour cash into competitive primaries as 2026 midterms heat up
Shutdown clock ticks as Schumer, Democrats dig in on DHS funding demands
Watch: Acting ICE Director Thwarts Eric Swalwell’s ‘Gotcha Question’ During Hearing
Watch: Bench-Clearing Brawl Throws NBA Game Into Chaos, Leads to 4 Ejections
DHS says illegal immigrant injured head after hitting concrete wall while fleeing ICE, denies beating claims
Fact Check: Did Bad Bunny Feature Viral 5-Year-Old Liam Ramos in Super Bowl Halftime Show?
DHS urges Newsom to honor ICE detainers after federal agent assaulted while arresting illegal alien at jail
Supreme Court Justice Alito says ‘things are so different’ since Scalia’s death
Clinton Judge Responds to California’s Attempts to Unmask ICE Agents
China panics after Takaichi declares intention to remilitarize Japan
Only one local detective on Nancy Guthrie case has over two years of experience on homicide squad: sources
Trump thanked Florida police for Epstein probe in 2000s, flagged ‘evil’ Ghislaine Maxwell: FBI doc
Progressive backed by Sanders, AOC pulls off upset ballot box shocker in Democratic congressional primary
US Skier Lindsey Vonn Reveals Extent of Her Injuries After Brutal Crash Ends Her Olympics — And Possibly Career
Who Would Have Guessed? Transit Agency in Cold-Weather State Buys EV Buses, Can’t Use Them in Freezing Cold
"Today in Lombardy there are 406 positive cases of #coronavirus, of which 216 hospitalised." https://t.co/5OeOXeP87q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 29, 2020
AI power players pour cash into competitive primaries as 2026 midterms heat up
Shutdown clock ticks as Schumer, Democrats dig in on DHS funding demands
Watch: Acting ICE Director Thwarts Eric Swalwell’s ‘Gotcha Question’ During Hearing
Watch: Bench-Clearing Brawl Throws NBA Game Into Chaos, Leads to 4 Ejections
DHS says illegal immigrant injured head after hitting concrete wall while fleeing ICE, denies beating claims
Fact Check: Did Bad Bunny Feature Viral 5-Year-Old Liam Ramos in Super Bowl Halftime Show?
DHS urges Newsom to honor ICE detainers after federal agent assaulted while arresting illegal alien at jail
Supreme Court Justice Alito says ‘things are so different’ since Scalia’s death
Clinton Judge Responds to California’s Attempts to Unmask ICE Agents
China panics after Takaichi declares intention to remilitarize Japan
Only one local detective on Nancy Guthrie case has over two years of experience on homicide squad: sources
Trump thanked Florida police for Epstein probe in 2000s, flagged ‘evil’ Ghislaine Maxwell: FBI doc
Progressive backed by Sanders, AOC pulls off upset ballot box shocker in Democratic congressional primary
US Skier Lindsey Vonn Reveals Extent of Her Injuries After Brutal Crash Ends Her Olympics — And Possibly Career
Who Would Have Guessed? Transit Agency in Cold-Weather State Buys EV Buses, Can’t Use Them in Freezing Cold
On Sunday, Francis is expected to leave the Vatican with top Holy See bureaucrats for a week of spiritual exercises in the Roman countryside, an annual retreat that the pope attends at the start of each Lent.
Francis last appeared in public on Wednesday, when he was seen coughing and blowing his nose during an Ash Wednesday Mass. The following day, he cancelled a Mass across town with Roman priests and on Friday, skipped an audience with participants of a Vatican conference on artificial intelligence.
The Vatican has stressed that Francis has celebrated Mass each morning and greeted attendees at the end, and then proceeded to continue working from home.
The Vatican hasn’t revealed the nature of Francis’ illness, saying only he has a “slight indisposition.” Francis’ illness, though, has come amid general alarm in Italy over the coronavirus outbreak, which has sickened more than 800 people, most in northern Italy.
Sky News Anchor Asks if @VP Mike Pence, as a Christian, Is Fit for #Coronavirus Role https://t.co/LvOLuaS3wJ
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 28, 2020
Story cited here.
