With trip planned, ailing pope cancels appointments to rest

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Saying Pope Francis had “a mild flu-like condition,” the Vatican press office announced he had canceled his scheduled audiences Sept. 23.

The 87-year-old pope, the press office said, would be resting as “a precautionary measure” in view of his scheduled trip Sept. 26-29 to Luxembourg and Belgium.

The pope had returned to the Vatican late Sept. 13 after a 12-day trip to Asia and the Pacific; early the next morning he met members of a pilgrimage in St. Peter’s Basilica and had a full slate of appointments for the next 10 days.

Pope Francis recited the Angelus Sept. 22 with visitors in St. Peter’s Square and showed no obvious signs of feeling unwell.

The Vatican published the texts of the speeches the pope had prepared for his audiences Sept. 23 with members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and with participants in a Vatican-related Christmas song contest.

The pope, who underwent surgery in 1957 to remove part of one of his lungs after suffering a severe respiratory infection, has been susceptible to colds and bouts of bronchitis as he ages.

The last time he canceled appointments for health reasons was in late February. After a general audience Feb. 28, the pope was taken to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital for what the Vatican said were “diagnostic tests,” and during an audience two days later, he told people he had bronchitis. For the next three weeks, he often had an aide read his texts for him, although he did give his Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter homilies himself.

Suffering from “the flu and inflammation of the respiratory tract” last year, Pope Francis canceled his early December trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he was scheduled to address the U.N. Climate Change Conference. The cancellation was made only four days before the trip was to begin.