Pope Francis, 86, was hospitalized in Rome on Wednesday for tests that had already been scheduled, the Vatican said. “The Holy Father is at [l’hôpital] Gemelli since this afternoon for previously scheduled checks,” the director of the Holy See’s press service, Matteo Bruni, announced in a statement. The examinations “have revealed a respiratory infection (excluding Covid 19 infection) which will require a few days of medical treatment in the hospital”, he specified.
The Argentinian Jesuit, who marked his ten years of pontificate in mid-March, participated in the morning at the weekly general audience in Saint Peter’s Square like every Wednesday, during which he appeared smiling, greeting the faithful on board his “papamobile”.
François, who has been in a wheelchair since May 2022 due to chronic knee pain, had already been hospitalized for ten days at Gemelli Hospital in July 2021 for a major colon operation. Jorge Bergoglio explained that he had “after-effects” of the anesthesia suffered during this intervention, which led him to rule out the possibility of knee surgery so far.