VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis shared on Sunday that he has an inflammation in his lungs but plans to travel to Dubai later this week to address the climate change conference.
Francis missed his usual Sunday appearance at a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, a day after the Vatican announced he was suffering from a mild flu. Instead, Francis delivered the traditional noon blessing in a televised appearance from the chapel in the Vatican hotel where he resides.
“Brothers and sisters, happy Sunday. Today I cannot appear at the window because I have this problem of inflammation of the lungs,” Francis expressed. The pontiff, soon to reach his 87th birthday, mentioned that a priest sitting beside him would read his reflections for the day.
In his remarks, Francis stated that he would attend the COP28 gathering on climate change in the United Arab Emirates and give his scheduled speech on Saturday to the participants.
“Besides war, our world is threatened by another great peril, that of climate change, which puts at risk life on Earth, especially for future generations,” the pontiff said in his remarks read by the priest.
“I thank all who will accompany this voyage with prayer and with the commitment to take to heart the safeguarding of the common house,” the pontiff added, using his term for Earth.
In the footage, it was noticeable that the pope had a bandage on his right hand and what appeared to be a cannula. The Vatican did not immediately respond to a query from the AP about whether he was receiving intravenous or some other treatment.
The discrepancy between the pope’s announcement of having lung inflammation and the Vatican’s previous statement that he had a negative CT scan at a Rome hospital to rule out the risk of pulmonary complications was not immediately explained.
Earlier this year, Francis was hospitalized for three days for what he later described as pneumonia and what the Vatican referred to as a case of bronchitis requiring treatment with intravenous antibiotics.
This weekend has been very windy and unusually chilly for late autumn in Rome.
The pontiff’s voice was low and, at times, he seemed breathless in his brief introductory remarks explaining why he didn’t appear at the window, and at the end when he added his usual request to “don’t forget to pray for me.”
