Pope Francis, still suffering from flu, cancels Monday audience again

A statement from the Holy See said: “Influenza symptoms persist and there is no fever. As a precaution, this morning’s hearing has been suspended.”

For the same reason, the Pope has canceled Saturday appointments but is still celebrating Angelus prayers on Sunday.

The Argentinian pope needs to use a wheelchair or a cane to travel due to knee pain. Since this December is his 87th birthday, various health problems have arisen.

That month, he had to cancel a long-awaited trip to Dubai, where he was scheduled to attend COP28, the annual climate summit organized by the United Nations, due to hospitalization for severe bronchitis.

A few months ago in June, he had surgery for an abdominal hernia.

Catholic leaders have said he could resign, as his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI did, if his health prevents him from carrying out his duties.

On February 28, 2013, the German Pope resigned from his position in charge of the fate of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics because he felt “without strength, either spiritually or physically.”

The College of Cardinals appointed Bergoglio, an Argentinian known as an innovator on religious and social issues, to replace the conservative prelate Racine who sought to restore the Latin Mass left behind by the Second Vatican Council Pope Ratzinger.

(Information comes from the organization)