A precarious iron health. The conditions of Pope Francis are beginning to cause some concern, especially due to his age and the ailments that now accompany him periodically. On Saturday morning, the Vatican canceled all the day's appointments (he had a meeting with the deacons of his diocese scheduled) due to fever. Yesterday at the Angelus, however - rather pale - he presented himself to the faithful, appearing from the window of the Apostolic Palace and this morning another note announced that all the appointments scheduled for the day had been postponed to another date. Obviously, the discomfort related to the aftermath of the lung infection persists. From what we learn, the meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon in a parish in North Rome with the parish priests of the area, one of the pastoral appointments started last year and which he cares a lot about to better understand the problems of the city, is not even confirmed.
Everything is temporarily suspended pending to see how Bergoglio feels tomorrow morning and understand if he can keep the appointment with the parish priests without having other relapses. The doctors who are treating him, despite the absence of fever, this morning suggested (and almost imposed) a forced rest. Probably to continue the aerosol treatment and perhaps also a new antibiotic therapy. In December, Francis was hit by a severe lung infection. The tail of this disease continues to bother him so much that when he speaks into the microphone, that typical persistent whistle symptom of respiratory problems is clearly heard in the background.
PROBLEMS
Health problems have already prevented the Pope from speaking in public at several audiences, between November and January, and also prevented him from flying to the Cop28 in Dubai, where he was expected. More than once he was forced to tell his guests: "I would have to read a long speech, but my breath is a bit labored; this cold that doesn't go away!".
In December, Francis celebrated 87 years, and soon (on March 13) it's the eleventh year of reign. In the meantime, he has undergone two operations, one on the colon, with the removal of 30 centimeters of tissue, and last year he had to be operated on "incarcerated laparocele", resolving the adhesions that caused him increasing pain and discomfort. The surgeon explained that the adhesions had formed "in correspondence with the scars of previous surgical interventions of past years". He then mentioned an even older operation, "an echinococcus cyst" in the lung, and an even older operation, the appendectomy done when he was 14 years old.
Pope Bergoglio spends his days at Santa Marta and willingly accepts the fragility of his condition as an elderly person. Every now and then he jokes about it with his guests. "Old age does not come alone, it does not disguise itself, it presents itself as it is". Often adding another phrase that has now become a refrain: "You rule with your head and not with your knees" in reference to the cyclical rumors about his resignation that are regularly denied by the Pope himself. Bergoglio continues to plan events, trips, appointments, meetings without sparing himself. Often doctors advise him to loosen the rhythms a bit, since every morning he receives ambassadors, nuncios, religious groups, bishops, curia cardinals for a total of numerous speeches read, prepared on dossiers that he must study before each appointment. His day usually begins before dawn with prayer, mass and then continues at full speed with the agenda prepared by the two alternating secretaries, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
PROGRAMS
Future programs include a couple of short trips in Italy like Verona, Venice, then in Belgium, to Leuven and, finally, he would like to schedule a visit to Polynesia in August and Argentina in September. These last two trips are much more complex due to the time zone, flight hours (to get to Polynesia it takes 30 hours of flight) and internal transfers. Perhaps a bit too much stress for an elderly person with a "precarious iron health" as defined in the curia. The only precedent of this kind concerns Pope John Paul II who managed to complete several trips to the end, even if they were short distances: Poland, Lourdes, Croatia. In those conditions he was certainly not able to make continental trips as his personal doctor, Renato Buzzonetti, the then pontifical archiater of legendary skill and humanity, always told journalists. The then Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro Valls - about the health of the popes - often joked that all the "popes are seriously ill, but only after their death".
THE DOCTOR
The Vatican's choice to suspend the Pope's audiences - affected "by mild flu symptoms, without fever" - is "more than shareable", considering the "objective greater vulnerability of a patient over eighty with the various diseases that have intertwined over time": Nicola Ferrara, already professor of Geriatrics at the Federico II University of Naples, reflects on the fragility of the illustrious patient. "Although not having specific elements available, in people of that age, even very trivial episodes of a day of flu, of a cold, given the basic fragility - explains the specialist - can reduce functions significantly. If a young person who works has a fever with a cold, he still moves, even goes to work, and nothing happens. If it happens to a person of 85-90 years, rest is essential, because it is more dangerous. Therefore, the choice made for the Pontiff seems to me a more than acceptable precaution".
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