Pope Francis admitted to hospital for treatment of bronchitis35 Jubilees and 58 Jubilee Ways in the Eternal City- Cindy Wooden, CNS
After suffering from bronchitis for more than a week and having obvious breathing difficulties, Pope Francis, 88, was admitted on February 14 to Rome's Gemelli hospital.
"This morning, at the end of the audiences, Pope Francis - says the press release- has been admitted to the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli to undergo some necessary diagnostic tests and to continue in a hospital environment his treatment for bronchitis, which is still ongoing," the Vatican press office told reporters. The Pope is expected to remain in the hospital for several days.
Before leaving the Vatican for the hospital, the Pope met privately with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Mark Thompson, president and CEO of CNN, and held a group meeting with members of the Gaudium et Spes Foundation.
Christopher Lamb, CNN's Vatican correspondent, was present at the beginning of the Pope's meeting with Thompson and said that "the Pope was mentally alert, but struggling to speak for long periods due to breathing difficulties," CNN reported.
Artists' Jubilee
In a second statement on February 14, the Vatican press office said that the Jubilee general audience with Pope Francis scheduled for February 15 was canceled and that Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, will celebrate the Mass Pope Francis was scheduled to preside at St. Peter's Basilica on February 16 with pilgrims attending the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture.
The Pope's visit to Cinecittà, the Rome film studio, to meet with actors and other artists on February 17 was also cancelled.
The last few weeks
The Pope, who underwent surgery in 1957 to remove part of one of his lungs after suffering from a severe respiratory infection, has been prone to colds and bouts of bronchitis.
Beginning with his weekly general audience on February 5, Pope Francis has had an aide read most of his prepared homilies and speeches at Masses and public audiences.
The Holy Father explained that he found it difficult to speak when he addressed visitors to the February 5 audience before handing them his text.
At the February 9 Mass for the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police and Security Corps, he apologized, saying he had "difficulty breathing."
At his Feb. 12 general audience, he apologized for not delivering the keynote address himself, saying it was "because I still can't deal with my bronchitis. I hope to be able to do it next time."
But on all those public occasions, he took the microphone to call for prayers for peace and to give his blessing.
In addition, from Feb. 6 until the morning he was admitted to the hospital, Pope Francis maintained his schedule of meetings with individuals and small groups, but held the meetings in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, his residence, rather than in the library or the ornate halls of the Apostolic Palace.
Recent hospitalizations
Pope Francis has been hospitalized several times at Gemelli Hospital.
In March 2023, he was hospitalized for three days for what doctors said was a "respiratory infection." He tested negative for COVID-19.
He returned on June 7, 2023, when he underwent a three-hour surgery to repair a hernia and spent nine days in the hospital, where St. John Paul II had been hospitalized on multiple occasions. The operation on Pope Francis, under general anesthesia, was performed using a surgical mesh to reinforce the repair and prevent the recurrence of a hernia. Surgeons also removed several adhesions or bands of scar tissue that, according to doctors, had formed after previous surgeries decades ago.
Prior to that, the Pope had spent seven days in the hospital in July 2021 after undergoing colon surgery to treat diverticulitis, an inflammation of lumps in the intestine. Pope Francis repeatedly denied that doctors had found cancer during the operation.
