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.
15-year-old accused of firing into crowd during deadly Seattle mass shooting claims self-defense
Maine’s high court gives father final say over daughter’s church attendance
FAA seeks permanent airspace restrictions near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago as expert warns rules are ‘not good enough’
Watch: Black Entrepreneur Humiliates Jemele Hill on CNN After She Claims Capitalism and White Supremacy Are Connected
The primary is over; now come the primetime mistakes
Trump Clarifies Stakes of Texas Senate Battle: If Talarico Wins, ‘I Will Be the Last Republican President’
Breaking: Mass Shooting in Downtown Minneapolis, Civilian Killed, Officers Shot
NFL Fans Stunned to Learn of Subtle Field-Goal Trick the Patriots Used Against Opponents in the Belichick Era
‘A little pissed’: Jeffries ally turns his back to centrist who voted to condemn DSA
Putin swears there won’t be mass mobilization, accuses Ukraine of ‘state terrorism’
Grandmother, Fiancé Turned Semi-Truck into Rolling Dungeon, Imprisoned 4 Children for 6 Nightmarish Years: Cops
Trump says Iranians won’t rise up because ‘they’re being shot’ and refuses to say if CIA would aid protesters
Sheriff suing Maryland says sanctuary laws ignore lessons of 9/11: ‘Stupidity at its best’
Salena Zito’s Butler to begin filming this month, revisiting a day of trauma and loss
Republicans fail to ease one of Trump’s greatest fears as Supreme Court measure collapses
"Today in Lombardy there are 406 positive cases of #coronavirus, of which 216 hospitalised." https://t.co/5OeOXeP87q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 29, 2020
15-year-old accused of firing into crowd during deadly Seattle mass shooting claims self-defense
Maine’s high court gives father final say over daughter’s church attendance
FAA seeks permanent airspace restrictions near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago as expert warns rules are ‘not good enough’
Watch: Black Entrepreneur Humiliates Jemele Hill on CNN After She Claims Capitalism and White Supremacy Are Connected
The primary is over; now come the primetime mistakes
Trump Clarifies Stakes of Texas Senate Battle: If Talarico Wins, ‘I Will Be the Last Republican President’
Breaking: Mass Shooting in Downtown Minneapolis, Civilian Killed, Officers Shot
NFL Fans Stunned to Learn of Subtle Field-Goal Trick the Patriots Used Against Opponents in the Belichick Era
‘A little pissed’: Jeffries ally turns his back to centrist who voted to condemn DSA
Putin swears there won’t be mass mobilization, accuses Ukraine of ‘state terrorism’
Grandmother, Fiancé Turned Semi-Truck into Rolling Dungeon, Imprisoned 4 Children for 6 Nightmarish Years: Cops
Trump says Iranians won’t rise up because ‘they’re being shot’ and refuses to say if CIA would aid protesters
Sheriff suing Maryland says sanctuary laws ignore lessons of 9/11: ‘Stupidity at its best’
Salena Zito’s Butler to begin filming this month, revisiting a day of trauma and loss
Republicans fail to ease one of Trump’s greatest fears as Supreme Court measure collapses
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.
