VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis canceled a trip to Dubai for the COP28 climate conference, appearing before thousands of faithful on Tuesday and saying his health remained poor so the speech would be read by his collaborators.
“My flu is not over yet. My voice is not good,” he explained to the faithful in the Paul VI classroom at the Vatican, before a collaborator read out his catechism.
The same thing happened when he hosted Scotland’s Celtic Football Club before the hearing, as he preferred his collaborators to prepare their speeches first and then improvise some words.
Although he recently had respiratory problems that forced him to cancel his trip, just as he rescheduled visits to Congo and South Sudan because of knee problems, he spent more than two hours on Tuesday receiving and speaking with Spanish bishops. Called in to analyze the situation at the Spanish seminar.
Although his voice was weak and there was a bit of a cough, the Pope came to the stage and issued a new appeal for peace: “Let us continue to pray for the serious situation in Israel and Palestine. Please pray for peace. I hope that the truce will continue.” In the country. Release all hostages and obtain necessary humanitarian assistance.
During the Angelus last Sunday, Jorge Bergoglio also did not appear at the Papal Palace, but stayed in the chapel of his residence, Casa Santa Marta, to perform Sunday prayers broadcast by the Vatican media .
However, until Tuesday, Francis still wanted to maintain his commitment to depart on Friday for COP28, as he had promised on Sunday and even Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni organized yesterday held a regular press conference to introduce the latest details of the trip. Thirty bilateral meetings were confirmed.
Francisco, who will turn 87 on December 17, has suffered from multiple ailments this year due to his age and has also undergone complex abdominal hernia surgery.
In April, he was hospitalized for three days with bronchitis, which had to be treated with antibiotics, a worrying situation since the Pope had a fever and arrived in an ambulance; in June, surprisingly, adhesions appeared due to a previous operation 2021 In July, he underwent surgery again for colon diverticulum and abdominal hernia, and was hospitalized for 9 days.