[Article updated with comments from the Pope's Secretary of State, below]
Due to a fever, Pope Francis did not have audiences this morning, the director of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni, confirmed to I.MEDIA on May 26, 2023. The 86-year-old Pope is currently not in the hospital, but at home at the Casa Santa Marta, according to our information.
This morning, Pope Francis had a rare day without any officially scheduled audiences. Yesterday, Thursday May 25, Pope Francis had eight appointments in the morning. In the afternoon, he went to the Augustinianum Pontifical Institute, not far from the Vatican, to take part in an event organized by the Scholas Occurrentes educational network, during which he spoke with young people in Spanish.
"The Pope was tired," explained the number 2 of the Vatican, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, on the sidelines of an afternoon presentation of a book at the Italian Embassy to the Holy See, in comments reported by The Press. “Yesterday (the Pope) had a very, very intense day. Last night I was told that he had met a lot of people and, in the meeting with Scholas Occurrentes, he wanted to greet them all and probably at a certain moment the [physical] resistance decreases.”
Although Pope Francis had no official meetings on the agenda this morning, he might have had private appointments, as would be customary. However, Bruni explained that his feverish state had prevented the Pontiff from meeting with anyone.
Over the next few days, the Pope is scheduled to attend a number of official meetings. On Sunday, he is due to celebrate Pentecost Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at 10 am. On Monday, he will present the Paul VI Prize to Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
Just under two months ago, on March 29, Pope Francis was rushed to Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic, where he was hospitalized for three nights with pneumonia. This was his second hospitalization since assuming the Throne of Peter in 2013. In July 2021, he stayed in the Gemelli for a major colon operation, during which 33 centimeters of intestine were removed.
