Pope Francis has been admitted to a hospital in Rome for tests and treatment for bronchitis, the Vatican announced, confirming the latest threat to the 88-year-old pontiff’s health.
“This morning, at the end of his audiences, Pope Francis was admitted to the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli for some necessary diagnostic tests and to continue his treatment for bronchitis, which is still ongoing, in a hospital environment,” his office said on Friday.
Before his hospitalisation, Francis still managed to meet with Vatican officials as well as other guests, including visiting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the statement said.
Francis was diagnosed with bronchitis last Thursday, but he has continued to hold daily audiences in his Vatican hotel suite, preside over general audiences and even presided at an outdoor Mass last Sunday.
He has however handed off his speeches for an aide to read aloud, saying he was having trouble breathing.
Francis has been the leader of the 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide since 2013. He has suffered from influenza and other health problems several times over the past two years.
He had part of one lung removed as a young man, and has long battled health problems, especially long 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. He also had a large chunk of his large intestine removed in 2021.
Ever since his most recent bronchitis diagnosis, Francis has appeared bloated, an indication the medication he was taking to treat the lung infection was making him retain water.
Rome’s Gemelli hospital is the same medical facility where the leader of the Catholic church was hospitalised 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.
In December of the same year, he had to cancel a visit to Dubai to participate in the United Nations COP28 climate change conference, due to another bout of bronchitis.
Francis has a personal physician, Dr Roberto Bernabei, who is an internist and geriatric specialist at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome.
He also has a personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, an employee of the Vatican health system whom Francis credited with saving his life when Strappetti diagnosed his 2021 intestinal problem. In 2022, Francis named the nurse his “personal health care assistant”.
