Pope Francis, suffering breathing issues, hospitalized to treat bronchitis, Vatican says

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis was hospitalized Friday to treat a weeklong bout of bronchitis and undergo diagnostic tests, the Vatican said, confirming the latest issues with the 88-year-old's pontiff's health that forced him to cancel his agenda through Monday at least.

Francis has complained of breathing trouble and was diagnosed with bronchitis Feb. 6, but had continued to hold daily audiences in his Vatican hotel suite. He attended his general audience Wednesday and presided at an outdoor Mass on Sunday. But he had handed off his speeches for an aide to read aloud, saying he was having trouble breathing.

On Friday, he appeared bloated and pale during the handful of audiences he held before going to the hospital. The bloating appeared to indicate that the medication he was taking to treat the lung infection was making him retain water.

Christopher Lamb, CNN’s Vatican correspondent, who saw Francis at the beginning of an audience Friday with CNN head Mark Thompson, said the pope was mentally alert but struggling to speak for extended periods due to breathing difficulties.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has long battled health problems, especially bouts of acute bronchitis in winter. He uses a wheelchair, walker or cane when moving around his apartment and recently fell twice, hurting his arm and chin.

Francis was hospitalized at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he was last admitted in June 2023 to have surgery to remove intestinal scar tissue and repair a hernia in the abdominal wall. A few months before that, he spent three days in the hospital to receive intravenous antibiotics for a respiratory infection.

The Vatican said Francis was admitted after his Friday audiences. In addition to regular Vatican officials, and Thompson, the pope met Friday morning with the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico.

"This morning, at the end of the audiences, Pope Francis will be admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic for some necessary diagnostic tests and to continue in a hospital setting treatment for bronchitis that is still ongoing," a Vatican statement said.

No details were given about the duration of Francis’ hospitalization, but the Vatican later announced he was cancelling his participation in Holy Year events through Monday.

The pope had a busy weekend agenda planned with an audience with artists at the Jubilee on Saturday, a Mass for them on Sunday and a trip to Rome’s famed Cinecitta studios on Monday. While a Vatican cardinal would preside over the Mass in Francis' place, the Vatican said the other events were cancelled “due to the impossibility of the pope to participate.”

The Vatican announcements, delivered ahead of Francis' hospitalization, came in sharp contrast to its 2023 hospitalization for bronchitis that caused confusion.

Initially, the Vatican had said he had gone in for scheduled tests, but the pontiff later revealed he had felt pain in his chest and was rushed to the hospital where bronchitis was diagnosed. He was put on intravenous antibiotics and was released April 1, quipping as he left that he was “still alive.”

Francis spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following intestinal surgery for a bowel narrowing. He credited his personal nurse then with saving his life for having insisted he get the problem checked out.

It wasn't the first time he credited a nurse with saving his life. Francis recounted his near-death experience with his youthful lung infection in his recent autobiography “Hope,” in which he credited his survival to a nurse, an Italian nun named Sister Cornelia Caraglio.

“She was an experienced, cultured woman who had worked as a teacher in Greece, and she quickly realized the seriousness of my situation: She called the specialist, who drained one and a half liters of fluid from my lungs. It began a slow and unsteady climb back from the brink between life and death,” he recalled.

It was she who, after the doctor prescribed a certain dose of penicillin and streptomycin, ordered that it be doubled, he recalled.

“She had intuition and practical experience, and certainly no lack of courage," he recalled. "My companions came from the seminary to visit me; some also gave me their blood for transfusions. Gradually the fevers decided to leave me, and the light began to return.”

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