Vatican cancels audiences, Holy Year events as pope remains hospitalized
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ROME — The Vatican on Tuesday canceled papal audiences through the weekend and delegated others to cover for Pope Francis as the 88-year-old pope remained hospitalized with a multi-pronged respiratory infection.
While other Vatican operations proceeded as normal, the cancellations put a damper on upcoming events of the Vatican’s big Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism that is aimed at encouraging pilgrims to come to Rome to participate in special Jubilee activities. Expected to draw some 30 million people to Rome, the Holy Year is packed with special papal audiences and Masses throughout 2025, some of which have now been put into question given Francis’ illness.
Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital in a “fair” condition on Friday after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened. On Monday, medical personnel determined that he was suffering from a polymicrobial respiratory tract infection, meaning a mix of viruses, bacteria and possibly other organisms had colonized his respiratory tract.
The Vatican has given no indication of how long he might remain hospitalized, only saying that the treatment of such a “complex clinical picture,” which has already required two changes in his drug regimen, would require an “adequate” stay.
“The pope is at risk of pneumonia because of this polymicrobial bronchitis,” said Dr. Carmelo D’Asero, an infectious disease and geriatric disease expert in Rome. “We will see the effect of this new therapy in four to five days.”
The Vatican says Pope Francis’ respiratory tract infection is presenting a ‘complex clinical picture’ that will require further hospitalization
D’Asero, who is not involved in Francis’ care, noted that his lack of a fever was not necessarily a positive thing, given the seriousness of his infection.
“A high fever is a sign of an immune response to a pathogen,” he said. “Having a low fever and having a serious bronchial infection ... is a sign of a decreased immune response and that makes us worry a little bit more, let’s say. Maybe if he had a fever, it would have been better.”
Francis once again had a peaceful night, ate breakfast and read the newspapers Tuesday morning, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. A more detailed medical update was expected later.
On Monday, Francis resumed doing some work and made his daily call to a Gaza City parish to check in on the Catholic community there. In a sign that other Vatican business was proceeding as usual Tuesday, the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, continued his delicate visit to Burkina Faso and another top Vatican cardinal, Cardinal Michael Czerny, prepared to leave Wednesday for a five-day visit to Lebanon.
But other business had to be canceled. There will be no weekly general audience Wednesday, and it’s not clear if Francis will miss his Sunday noon blessing for a second week in a row.
The Vatican said preliminary tests showed Pope Francis had a respiratory tract infection, was running a mild fever and was in ‘fair’ condition and undergoing drug therapy.
This Holy Year weekend was dedicated to deacons, the ministry that is a necessary step for men who are preparing to become priests. Francis had an unrelated audience Saturday and was supposed to have ordained the deacons during a Mass on Sunday. The Vatican on Tuesday announced his audience was canceled and that the archbishop who is organizing the Jubilee would celebrate the Mass in the pope’s place. It’s a similar arrangement that the Vatican announced last weekend, when artists in town had to settle for a scrapped papal audience and a cardinal presiding over their special Mass.
The next Jubilee events on the calendar that would typically involve the pope are the March 8-9 weekend dedicated to volunteers.
Francis had part of one lung removed after a pulmonary infection as a young man and is prone to bouts of bronchitis in winter. He has admitted in the past that he is a noncompliant patient, and even his close Vatican aides have said he pushed himself too far even once his bronchitis was diagnosed.
He refused to let up on his busy schedule and ignored medical advice to stay indoors during Rome’s chilly winter, insisting on sitting through an outdoor Jubilee Mass for the armed forces on Feb. 9 even though he was having trouble breathing.
Francis’ hospital admission this year has already sidelined him for longer than a 2023 hospitalization for pneumonia.
Winfield writes for the Associated Press. Visual journalist Paolo Santalucia contributed.
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