Pope Francis cancels trip to Dubai
Pope Francis during a recent general audience
It is with regret that the Pope will not travel to Dubai, where he was due to take part next Saturday in Cop28, the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, the importance of which the Pope spoke in detail in the recent Apostolic Exhortation “Laudate Deum”, an update of the Encyclical “Laudato Si’”. The doctors recommended this decision given the respiratory infection that Francesco has been suffering from for several days. “Although the general clinical picture of the Holy Father has improved in terms of the condition of the flu and inflammation of the respiratory tract – explained the director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni – the doctors asked the Pope not to carry out the procedure.” the trip to Dubai planned for the next few days on the occasion of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Pope Francis – in Bruni’s words – accepted the doctors’ request with great regret and therefore canceled the trip. “As the Pope and the Holy See remain ready to take part in the discussions taking place in the coming days, the ways in which this can be implemented will be determined as soon as possible.”
As we remember, last Sunday the Pope abstained from reciting the Angelus prayer due to breathing problems and entrusted it to Monsignor Paolo Luca Braida. In addition, Francesco had canceled the hearings the day before for health reasons and had undergone a CT scan that afternoon, which, although ruling out pneumonia, had shown pneumonia. For greater effectiveness of therapy, a cannula needle was positioned for intravenous infusion of antibiotics. Back to the planned trip to the United Arab Emirates: As Bruni himself announced in a briefing, the Pope was supposed to inaugurate the “Faith Pavilion” or the Faith Pavilion in the Expo City on December 3rd.