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.
Georgetown Cupcake keg tosser suspected in second brazen M Street attack caught on video
Fmr Dem Rep Barney Frank, sharp-tongued liberal trailblazer, Dodd-Frank co-author dies
The red states charging ahead with America’s wealth as rivals watch billions slip away
Media Melts Down Over More White Afrikaners Coming to America as Refugees and We All Know Why
Leftists Are Spiraling After Thomas Massie’s Loss and Conservatives Should Take That as a Good Sign
Kentucky voters deliver verdict on Thomas Massie and more top headlines
Leftists Beg College Athletes to Ditch SEC Schools in States with Redistricting
Costco Recalls Popular Item After Person Suffers Second-Degree Burns
MTG says GOP’s future ‘destroyed’ after Trump-backed primary challenger defeats Thomas Massie in primary
Trump admin accuses Hamas of backing Gaza flotilla, sanctions activist and Muslim Brotherhood networks
Trump roils Senate GOP amid struggles with immigration bill
Meet the four Pennsylvania Democrats who could flip control of the House
Poland offering US ‘firsthand experience’ to help transition Cuba from communism
Georgia Republicans head to runoff in secretary of state race defined by 2020 election claims
DHS blasts California sanctuary policies after jail releases illegal immigrant accused in hit-and-run
"Today in Lombardy there are 406 positive cases of #coronavirus, of which 216 hospitalised." https://t.co/5OeOXeP87q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 29, 2020
Georgetown Cupcake keg tosser suspected in second brazen M Street attack caught on video
Fmr Dem Rep Barney Frank, sharp-tongued liberal trailblazer, Dodd-Frank co-author dies
The red states charging ahead with America’s wealth as rivals watch billions slip away
Media Melts Down Over More White Afrikaners Coming to America as Refugees and We All Know Why
Leftists Are Spiraling After Thomas Massie’s Loss and Conservatives Should Take That as a Good Sign
Kentucky voters deliver verdict on Thomas Massie and more top headlines
Leftists Beg College Athletes to Ditch SEC Schools in States with Redistricting
Costco Recalls Popular Item After Person Suffers Second-Degree Burns
MTG says GOP’s future ‘destroyed’ after Trump-backed primary challenger defeats Thomas Massie in primary
Trump admin accuses Hamas of backing Gaza flotilla, sanctions activist and Muslim Brotherhood networks
Trump roils Senate GOP amid struggles with immigration bill
Meet the four Pennsylvania Democrats who could flip control of the House
Poland offering US ‘firsthand experience’ to help transition Cuba from communism
Georgia Republicans head to runoff in secretary of state race defined by 2020 election claims
DHS blasts California sanctuary policies after jail releases illegal immigrant accused in hit-and-run
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.
