Pope Francis was admitted to the Roman Gemelli Hospital on the afternoon of March 29 for “check-ups,” the Holy See press room said in a very brief press release. His appointments for the next few hours have been canceled, La Croix learned from a Vatican source.
The groups, due to be received in audience on Thursday, March 30, were contacted by the Pontifical Household Prefecture, which manages the pope’s public agenda, to warn them that Francis would not be able to meet them as planned.
Checks “as long as necessary”
“We have time on the agenda to continue the controls for as long as necessary,” says a Vatican source. The Vatican has not commented on the type of examinations carried out, but the Corriere della Sera points to a problem of a cardiac nature.
According to our information and contrary to what the Vatican claims, these investigations were not “planned”. Pope Francis had indeed planned to go to a Roman prison on Wednesday to record a video sequence for RAI’s religious program, “A Sua Immagine”, but the appointment was canceled at the last minute to let François go to the hospital.
Also, according to other sources, Pope Francis had planned to meet his “Secretary of State,” Bishop Paul R. Gallagher, on Wednesday, March 29, late in the afternoon, as he does every week. On Wednesday morning, this date was still on the Pope’s agenda.
Earlier in the morning, the Pope had arrived for his weekly audience and taken his usual popemobile tour of St. Peter’s Square before continuing his series of catechesis on evangelization.
A previous hospitalization in July 2021
The 86-year-old Pope’s last public hospitalization was in July 2021, when he underwent surgery for an operation on his colon that was also “planned”. His hospitalization has been extended beyond the originally announced period to “optimize medical and rehabilitation care,” the Vatican said in press releases.
While the Vatican had presented this operation as routine, a few months later the Pope had admitted its serious nature and assured that the nurse who had persuaded him to seek treatment “saved his life”.
François also suffers from severe knee pain, which has forced him to regularly use a wheelchair since May 2022. From now on he never moves without a cane, which he uses to support himself even for a few steps from his popemobile to his chair.
On the papal agenda are several audiences on Thursday morning, March 30, as well as the celebration of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, April 2.
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