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.
Dem ‘Epstein class’ attack backfires as top candidates funded by Epstein-tied billionaire
Cuba built covert network inside America through spies, activists and universities, State Dept alleges
Two House races take center stage as conservative PAC launches multimillion-dollar Big Tech push
Jeff Clark’s yearslong disbarment fight tests reach of DC Bar over Trump DOJ
Trump’s GOP clout faces Arizona test with House majority, governor’s race at stake
DOJ’s creative solution to transgender prison case would move male inmates into specialized unit
DOJ opens probe into Harvard’s financial aid for alleged discrimination against American students
Bodycam catches Sunny Hostin invoking her legal chops as cops cite Harvard-grad son for trespassing
Trump says first call with new UK PM Burnham went ‘very well,’ pledges US support
Lindsey Graham’s Sister Announces She’s Running for Full Senate Term
Rand Paul releases docs that reveal FBI halted border inspection of virus researcher over Wuhan lab links
Johnson’s strategy to bypass Democrats’ SAVE Act blockade survives key vote, handing GOP big win
Socialist insurgents force moderate Democrats into high-risk showdown over must-hold races
Top media networks put on notice after refusing to air Trump’s primetime address: ‘Serious concerns’
5 dead in attempt to save a struggling swimmer in Ohio river
"Today in Lombardy there are 406 positive cases of #coronavirus, of which 216 hospitalised." https://t.co/5OeOXeP87q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 29, 2020
Dem ‘Epstein class’ attack backfires as top candidates funded by Epstein-tied billionaire
Cuba built covert network inside America through spies, activists and universities, State Dept alleges
Two House races take center stage as conservative PAC launches multimillion-dollar Big Tech push
Jeff Clark’s yearslong disbarment fight tests reach of DC Bar over Trump DOJ
Trump’s GOP clout faces Arizona test with House majority, governor’s race at stake
DOJ’s creative solution to transgender prison case would move male inmates into specialized unit
DOJ opens probe into Harvard’s financial aid for alleged discrimination against American students
Bodycam catches Sunny Hostin invoking her legal chops as cops cite Harvard-grad son for trespassing
Trump says first call with new UK PM Burnham went ‘very well,’ pledges US support
Lindsey Graham’s Sister Announces She’s Running for Full Senate Term
Rand Paul releases docs that reveal FBI halted border inspection of virus researcher over Wuhan lab links
Johnson’s strategy to bypass Democrats’ SAVE Act blockade survives key vote, handing GOP big win
Socialist insurgents force moderate Democrats into high-risk showdown over must-hold races
Top media networks put on notice after refusing to air Trump’s primetime address: ‘Serious concerns’
5 dead in attempt to save a struggling swimmer in Ohio river
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.
