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.
Watch: UFC Star Gets on the Phone with Trump Immediately After Big Win
Attacks on first responders would be federal crime under bipartisan bill
UK smuggled in thousands of Afghans after 2022 data leak
GOP’s Mike Rogers raises $1.5 million in bid to flip Michigan Senate seat
Republican leading House Budget Committee looks ahead after passing Big Beautiful Bill
Yankees Star Aaron Judge Includes Subtle Biblical Message on His All-Star Game Gear
Senate GOP braces for test vote on Trump’s $9.4B clawback package
Florida teen fights off alligator that dragged her underwater
Video of suspected ‘honor killing’ plot resurfaces as parents stand trial for attempted murder
Wild Footage: Raging Floodwaters Wreak Havoc on NYC Subway System, Strand Riders
The First Lady Was the One Who Pointed Out Putin’s Lies to the President: Trump
Former Obama staffer rips Cuomo campaign video: ‘No message, no charisma’
Federal judges refuse to permanently appoint interim US attorney in NY
Why Rahm Emanuel thinks his ‘Rahm-bo’ reputation could help him in 2028 elections
AOC Sets Herself Up to Pay $15 Million to Trump After She Lets Keyboard Get Ahead of Her Brain
"Today in Lombardy there are 406 positive cases of #coronavirus, of which 216 hospitalised." https://t.co/5OeOXeP87q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 29, 2020
Watch: UFC Star Gets on the Phone with Trump Immediately After Big Win
Attacks on first responders would be federal crime under bipartisan bill
UK smuggled in thousands of Afghans after 2022 data leak
GOP’s Mike Rogers raises $1.5 million in bid to flip Michigan Senate seat
Republican leading House Budget Committee looks ahead after passing Big Beautiful Bill
Yankees Star Aaron Judge Includes Subtle Biblical Message on His All-Star Game Gear
Senate GOP braces for test vote on Trump’s $9.4B clawback package
Florida teen fights off alligator that dragged her underwater
Video of suspected ‘honor killing’ plot resurfaces as parents stand trial for attempted murder
Wild Footage: Raging Floodwaters Wreak Havoc on NYC Subway System, Strand Riders
The First Lady Was the One Who Pointed Out Putin’s Lies to the President: Trump
Former Obama staffer rips Cuomo campaign video: ‘No message, no charisma’
Federal judges refuse to permanently appoint interim US attorney in NY
Why Rahm Emanuel thinks his ‘Rahm-bo’ reputation could help him in 2028 elections
AOC Sets Herself Up to Pay $15 Million to Trump After She Lets Keyboard Get Ahead of Her Brain
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.
