Pope Francis chaired his traditional weekly general audience on Wednesday despite “flu symptoms” having forced him to cancel his trip planned for the weekend to Dubai, but had his text read by one of his assistants.
The 86-year-old Argentine pontiff appeared tired and his breathing was labored when he said these few words: “I’m not doing well yet with this flu, and my voice is not good.”
Pope Francis, who had a partial lung removed in his youth, was forced on Tuesday evening to cancel his highly anticipated visit to Dubai to attend the UN climate conference, following advice from his doctors.
The Pope was to go there from Friday to Sunday, but due to “his flu symptoms and his inflammation of the respiratory tract (…) the doctors asked the Pope not to make the trip planned in the coming days to Dubai ” for COP 28, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni announced on Tuesday.
The pope, who has made environmental protection a cornerstone of his ten-year pontificate, was to be the first pontiff to attend a UN COP in person since the process began in 1995.
On Wednesday, however, the pope spoke briefly with a whistling voice at the end of his audience to call for an end to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. He also appeared entertained by a circus act, including acrobats on roller skates.
Before his general audience, he told players from Scottish football club Celtic Glasgow who were visiting him the day after a match against Lazio Rome: “Excuse me, with this flu I can’t talk much, but I’m better than yesterday.”
The pope, who turns 87 in December, has been affected by a series of health problems in recent years, including his knees and hips and his colon. He also had hernia surgery in June. In March, he was hospitalized for three nights for bronchitis.
On Saturday, the appearance of “mild flu symptoms” had forced him to cancel several commitments.
