Pope cancels audience and speeches due to a cold

Pope Francis canceled an audience and chose not to deliver a pair of speeches Thursday due to a bad cold, the Vatican said.

The 86-year-old Argentine pontiff met with young Orthodox monks and priests as well as members of the Max Planck Society, a German research organization which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. But due to the “bad cold” he suffers from, Francis only had printed copies of his words distributed and did not read them aloud, the Vatican said in a statement.

He later canceled an audience with members of an Italian Christian youth association, the Holy See said in its daily bulletin.

Francis coughed several times the day before during Ash Wednesday mass which he presided over in a basilica in Rome, and did not take part in the traditional procession which kicks off Lent.

At this same time in 2020, coinciding with the start of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy, he fell victim to a serious flu which forced him to cancel several official audiences as well as his participation in the Vatican’s spiritual retreat. This year’s convocation has been canceled in favor of personal spiritual exercises, as indicated by the Holy See.

In his youth, part of a lung was removed due to a respiratory infection and in 2021 a piece of his colon was removed due to intestinal inflammation. Since last year, he has been using a wheelchair and a cane due to a problem with the ligaments in his knee and a small fracture in the joint which prevents him from walking or standing.