Pope Francis will spend a few days in the hospital because of respiratory issues. Tests confirm that he has tested negative for COVID-19 but was suffering from the infection. Faithfuls are worried about the upcoming Easter event on April 9 due to the Pope’s degrading health.
VATICAN CITY, Wednesday. Pope Francis was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday morning as doctors confirmed that he has a respiratory infection and will have to stay in the hospital for a few days for treatment, the Vatican said.
Pope Francis was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital after he complained of breathing difficulties over the past few days, according to the statement. It said that the pope had tested negative for COVID-19, but he had the infection.
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Pope Francis admitted to hospital due to respiratory issues
Reports from Italian media said Pope Francis was in good health during his visit to the weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square in the morning. But the media later reported that he cancelled a television interview and was immediately brought to the hospital in an ambulance.
The Pope was grateful for all the messages of support he received and expressed his gratitude and prayers to everyone. In an earlier statement, the Vatican said that the pope had gone to the hospital for a scheduled check-up.
This Pope’s hospitalisation has also concerned the faithfuls about his presence ahead of the Palm Sunday service on April 2, whose inauguration marks the start of the hectic week of ceremonies that leads to Easter Sunday on April 9.
Degrading health has affected Pope Francis lately
In the last two years, Francis’ health has attracted wider controversies, during which he was restricted to a wheelchair and used a walking stick due to chronic pain in his knees after he underwent colon surgery.
Pope Francis’ health has since deteriorated after he removed a part of his lung in his early 20s, when he was training to be a priest in his native Argentina. Since then, the pope has been exposed to various respiratory problems and sometimes runs short of breath.
Ageing, Diverticulitis and other health conditions
The 86-year-old leader of the Roman Catholics has a digestive condition called diverticulitis that can infect or cause inflammation of the colon. He was operated on to remove part of his colon at the Gemelli hospital in 2021.
He said that his condition had returned earlier this year and that it was affecting him a lot and causing him to put on weight. The pope did not elaborate much and said he was well.
In an interview with Reuters last year, he said that he had no intention of getting his knees operated, as he mentioned later that he wanted to avoid the gruelling side effects of anaesthesia he suffered after his operation last year.
After returning from a trip to Canada last year, the pope admitted that his advancing age and his health conditions have finally affected his work. He said that he had become much slower due to his difficulties walking.
Pope Francis remains resilient despite difficulties
Despite his increasing illness, the pope has since then visited Kazakhstan and Bahrain and also completed a trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan last month.
He has also made commitments to visit Hungary and Portugal later this year. He added that, if the conditions were right, he would fly from Marseille to Mongolia in September after his initial stay in the French city.
The pope praised his late predecessor, Benedict XVI, after he led his funeral in January. He commended his predecessor’s decision to step down on health grounds and indicated he would follow suit if his health were to worsen in the future.
A few weeks ago, he was asked by Italian-Swiss television RSI to identify the condition that would force him to quit, to which he replied that he would not continue if he were overcome by a tiredness that would take away his ability for clarification and evaluation.
