Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered for his Wednesday general audience on February 5, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican.Pope Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Friday to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis, the Vatican said.
The 88-year-old pope was hospitalized in the late morning on February 14 following meetings with a number of people, including the prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico.
“This morning, at the end of his audiences, Pope Francis will be admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Hospital for some necessary diagnostic tests and to continue treatment for bronchitis, that is still ongoing, in a hospital setting,” the Holy See Press Office said in a message sent shortly before 11 a.m. local time.
The Vatican said that due to Pope Francis’ hospitalization, his appointments for the following three days were canceled. In particular, he will no longer hold a jubilee audience at the Vatican on Saturday, February 15, or a meeting with artists at the historic Cinecittà film studios south of Rome on February 17.
The pope was also scheduled to participate in a Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture, part of the Church’s wider 2025 Jubilee of Hope. The Vatican said Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, will celebrate the Mass.
Pope Francis has been sick with bronchitis for over a week. On February 6, the Vatican announced the pope would hold most of his meetings that day and the following days in rooms at his Vatican residence in order to rest more.
Despite the illness, which has largely prevented the pontiff from reading his own speeches and homilies, Pope Francis presided at a jubilee Mass for members of the police and armed forces in St. Peter’s Square on February 9 and participated in his weekly general audience on Wednesday.
Pope Francis was also hospitalized for a respiratory infection in March 2023 and canceled a November 2023 trip to Dubai due to a “very acute infectious bronchitis.”
The pope, who has been suffering from visible breathlessness during recent meetings, has more and more frequently declined to read his prepared remarks to audiences or opted to have the remarks read by a priest aide.
He has faced several health challenges in recent years, including knee problems requiring a wheelchair, respiratory infections, and a fall resulting in a forearm contusion.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) shared on social media that the bishops “join in prayer for the Holy Father during his hospitalization.”
The U.S. bishops also shared a prayer for Pope Francis:
O God, shepherd and ruler of all the faithful,
look favorably on your servant Francis,
whom you have set at the head of your Church as her shepherd;
Grant, we pray, that by word and example
he may be of service to those over whom he presides
so that, together with the flock entrusted to his care,
he may come to everlasting life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
(Photo by Vatican Media.)
By Hannah Brockhaus, Catholic News Agency
