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.
GOP races to pass ICE, Border Patrol funding bill as priorities pile up, divisions emerge
Why the Strait of Hormuz matters as Trump issues fresh ultimatum to Iran
Pair of Democrat lawmakers slam ‘blockade of fuel’ to Cuba, ‘economic bombing’ after visit to island
New Hampshire suspect who shot officer and triggered massive manhunt killed in police gunfight
Savannah Guthrie’s Easter message reveals anguish as mom missing 63 days
Greene says Trump isn’t Christian in slamming Easter threat to reopen Strait of Hormuz
CNN Analyst Breaks Down the Numbers for Dems, Reveals Their Own Voters Can’t Stand Them
Blue States Scrambling to Circumvent SCOTUS Ruling, Save Censorship of Gender Counseling
Billboard trolling Dale Warner goes viral after his murder conviction in wife Dee’s case
Watch: Inept Texas Judge Blasted After Camera Catches Him Cursing Kind Computer Tech – Now His Nasty Emails Demanding Respect Have Leaked, Too
One of a Kind Video: Kid Rock Uses Apache Hovering Behind His House to Torment Gavin Newsom
America’s Decaying Highways Are About to Get Much Worse Thanks to Key Fund’s Demise
Tax day is next week: Avoid these 5 common mistakes that can cost you money
Thousands of Christian Families Are Facing Eviction in This Muslim Country
Commission Votes to Approve WH Ballroom Despite Official Injunction, Major Pushback
"Today in Lombardy there are 406 positive cases of #coronavirus, of which 216 hospitalised." https://t.co/5OeOXeP87q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 29, 2020
GOP races to pass ICE, Border Patrol funding bill as priorities pile up, divisions emerge
Why the Strait of Hormuz matters as Trump issues fresh ultimatum to Iran
Pair of Democrat lawmakers slam ‘blockade of fuel’ to Cuba, ‘economic bombing’ after visit to island
New Hampshire suspect who shot officer and triggered massive manhunt killed in police gunfight
Savannah Guthrie’s Easter message reveals anguish as mom missing 63 days
Greene says Trump isn’t Christian in slamming Easter threat to reopen Strait of Hormuz
CNN Analyst Breaks Down the Numbers for Dems, Reveals Their Own Voters Can’t Stand Them
Blue States Scrambling to Circumvent SCOTUS Ruling, Save Censorship of Gender Counseling
Billboard trolling Dale Warner goes viral after his murder conviction in wife Dee’s case
Watch: Inept Texas Judge Blasted After Camera Catches Him Cursing Kind Computer Tech – Now His Nasty Emails Demanding Respect Have Leaked, Too
One of a Kind Video: Kid Rock Uses Apache Hovering Behind His House to Torment Gavin Newsom
America’s Decaying Highways Are About to Get Much Worse Thanks to Key Fund’s Demise
Tax day is next week: Avoid these 5 common mistakes that can cost you money
Thousands of Christian Families Are Facing Eviction in This Muslim Country
Commission Votes to Approve WH Ballroom Despite Official Injunction, Major Pushback
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.
