Pope Francis' Health: Humor and Challenges Amidst Persistent Concerns

He often jokes about using the wheelchair, apologizes if he's tired in the morning, makes jokes about his physical condition, always managing to cheer up those he talks to. "I'm still alive," Pope Francis jokes ironically. However, the questions have been piling up for months and are always the same: how is the pontiff really doing? The issue became evident again during the Palm Sunday mass when he gave up reading (and having read) the homily prepared for the occasion. "I have not recovered yet, I struggle to read," Bergoglio in a wheelchair confirms the Easter rites. Since he was struck by a severe form of bronchitis a couple of months ago, Bergoglio often skips reading longer speeches, entrusting them to some monsignor of the curia. The stubborn cough would prevent him. This morning he decided to completely cancel it at the last minute even though at the end of the Palm ceremony he read some reflections on the war prepared for the post Angelus. Someone suggests that evidently he wanted to shorten the time of the solemn celebration to be able to return to Santa Marta as soon as possible. After all, two hours in the cold and wind are perhaps excessive for an eighty-seven-year-old made fragile by the ailments of age and several pre-existing pathologies. Three years ago, Francis underwent a delicate abdominal surgery at the Gemelli Hospital, with the removal of 30 centimeters of intestine. The doctors immediately ruled out cancer. The following year he had to return to the hospital for an incarcerated laparocele. The doctors explained that it was an old scar from an operation done as a boy. Since last year, however, the Pope has begun to show respiratory distress. Again, the doctors ruled out the worst, pneumonia. However, it is clear to everyone that despite the strength and extraordinary energy, Bergoglio is increasingly fragile. He has slowed down a bit the audiences, in the afternoon at Santa Marta he carves out more time to rest or take care of himself. The plans for the near future remain intense: he plans to make some trips in Europe and this summer a long journey between Asia and Oceania, facing a flight of over 26 hours. "You govern with the head and not with the knees," he reiterated once again in his biography just published. Francesco has no intention of resigning and explains it with the fact that the role of the pontiff is for life. In the Vatican, no one wants to touch the subject of his health, it's a taboo, one of the best-kept secrets, a totem, but after all, the Popes are always fine until they are not, said Joaquin Navarro Valls, legendary spokesman for John Paul II. The physical conditions of a pontiff have always been a very delicate and top-secret matter. It is not merely a matter of privacy but almost a vital measure for the ecclesiastical system useful to not feed uncontrolled rumors of successions starting certainly destabilizing pre-conclave maneuvers. Pope Bergoglio himself, two months after the colon surgery, confided to a group of Jesuits that when he was in the hospital he knew there were cardinals who would have wanted him dead. The statement raised a great general indignation fueling speculations on who they were. The matter was resolved over time, seeing that Pope Francis continued to carry forward his program. This time his respiratory difficulty is only evident, perhaps related to a state that is becoming chronic, judging from the effort with which he speaks. Someone ventures that he has emphysema but it always remains in the realm of hypotheses. "I have no intention of resigning now. In the seminary, I had a little mishap," Here's the autobiography coming out.