Pope Francis, 86, is suffering from a respiratory infection and will remain in hospital “for several days,” the Vatican announced late Wednesday, prompting a scheduled medical examination Wednesday afternoon amid repeated questions about the pontiff’s health. head of the Catholic Church, AFP and News.ro report.

According to a Vatican source, the Pope’s schedule for Thursday has been canceled.

“The Pope’s agenda has been released in case his exams continue,” the source said, adding that it was “possible” that Francis would spend the night in hospital.

Heart problems

According to Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily, France’s Le Figaro and Argentina’s La Nacion, Francis arrived at the hospital in an ambulance due to “heart problems”, contrary to a statement from the Vatican.

According to a source close to the Pope, there was no commotion in the Pope’s residence Domus Sanctae Marthae.

The Argentine Jesuit, who celebrated ten years of pontificate in mid-March, attended the weekly general audience Wednesday morning in St. Peter’s Square, as he does every Wednesday, where he smiled and greeted the faithful aboard the “popemobile.”

Francis, who has been in a wheelchair since May 2022 due to chronic knee pain, was hospitalized for ten days at Gemelli Hospital in July 2021 when he underwent major colon surgery.

Assumption of resignation

Jorge Bergoglio announced that he was left with “after-effects” from the anesthesia from the procedure, prompting him to rule out knee surgery so far.

His knee pains, which forced him to postpone several visits in 2022 and postpone the tour of Africa, are at the center of speculation about a possible retirement.

He left the door open for that scenario, following the example of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who resigned, taking the world by surprise.

In July, Francis said he “can no longer travel” at his former pace and mentioned the possibility of “stepping aside.”

But in February, he assessed that the resignation of the pope “should not become a fashion” and assured that this approach “is not on his agenda at the moment.”

Guardians keep an eye on him both in the Vatican and during visits abroad, but his recent health problems have forced him to officially create a new position – that of “personal medical assistant”, to which he has appointed a nurse from Gemelli Hospital.

According to his biographer Austen Ivery, at the age of 21, Francis almost died of pleurisy, and in October 1957 he had part of a lung removed.

In a recently published book, he recalls this episode.

“I understand how people with the (new) coronavirus must feel, who have to fight to breathe through (respiratory) artificial devices,” he writes.

In an interview with Argentine journalist and environmentalist Nelson Castro, he also mentions an operation to remove some cysts from his right lung, stressing that he “completely recovered” and “never felt limited.”

When he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he was treated for back pain by a Chinese acupuncturist, his biographer wrote in The Tablet Catholic in May.

According to his biographer, he had “gallstone disease” and in 2004 an “early” heart problem due to a small narrowing of an artery.

In addition, the liver problems were solved by changing his diet.