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.
Out of Control Tim Walz Pardons, Releases Illegal Child Rapist, Now ICE Likely Can’t Deport Him
‘Corruption’ Allegations Fly as Controversial Referee Decision Dents US World Cup Hopes
Young psychotherapist mom butchered inside home as cops scramble to find her killer
Empire State Building security under scrutiny after climbers’ stunt, tourist reveals possible access point
China-linked green group training US judges draws fresh heat as foreign ties fuel pressure at home
Mamdani gets roasted after telling sweltering New Yorkers to set ACs to 78 degrees: ‘Commie’
Thanks to Climate Panic, It’s 100 Degrees Inside a ‘Flagship’ Hospital Building – This Is What Leftists Want for Us (but Not Themselves)
WATCH: Trump Holds Conversation With AI Teddy Roosevelt, Gets Fresh Encouragement That He’s on the Right Path
America’s housing market could run out of something more important than homes
How Iran attacks are forcing the Pentagon to rethink its decades-old Middle East base strategy
Baby Beaten Nearly to Death by Children, 4 and 6, as Sitter Gives Most Nauseating Excuse We’ve Ever Heard
Ukraine’s 40-day missile and drone blitz heaps pressure and pain on Putin
DeSantis announces plans to use new state law to target dozens of alleged terrorist groups
Acting AG Todd Blanche says Newsom’s DOJ claims are not ‘grounded in fact’
Mexican national sentenced in border child smuggling case involving THC-laced candy
"Today in Lombardy there are 406 positive cases of #coronavirus, of which 216 hospitalised." https://t.co/5OeOXeP87q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 29, 2020
Out of Control Tim Walz Pardons, Releases Illegal Child Rapist, Now ICE Likely Can’t Deport Him
‘Corruption’ Allegations Fly as Controversial Referee Decision Dents US World Cup Hopes
Young psychotherapist mom butchered inside home as cops scramble to find her killer
Empire State Building security under scrutiny after climbers’ stunt, tourist reveals possible access point
China-linked green group training US judges draws fresh heat as foreign ties fuel pressure at home
Mamdani gets roasted after telling sweltering New Yorkers to set ACs to 78 degrees: ‘Commie’
Thanks to Climate Panic, It’s 100 Degrees Inside a ‘Flagship’ Hospital Building – This Is What Leftists Want for Us (but Not Themselves)
WATCH: Trump Holds Conversation With AI Teddy Roosevelt, Gets Fresh Encouragement That He’s on the Right Path
America’s housing market could run out of something more important than homes
How Iran attacks are forcing the Pentagon to rethink its decades-old Middle East base strategy
Baby Beaten Nearly to Death by Children, 4 and 6, as Sitter Gives Most Nauseating Excuse We’ve Ever Heard
Ukraine’s 40-day missile and drone blitz heaps pressure and pain on Putin
DeSantis announces plans to use new state law to target dozens of alleged terrorist groups
Acting AG Todd Blanche says Newsom’s DOJ claims are not ‘grounded in fact’
Mexican national sentenced in border child smuggling case involving THC-laced candy
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.
