ACTIVE SCHEDULE
Despite his health troubles, Francis remains a very active pontiff, with a busy weekly schedule and regular overseas trips.
In September 2024, he completed a four-nation Asia-Pacific tour, the longest of his papacy by duration and distance.
A source within the pope’s entourage had told AFP Monday that Francis was admitted after a “very busy” two weeks, during which “he was weakened” – but insisted there was no alarm.
Francis followed last Sunday’s mass on television from hospital and sent a written address for the Angelus.
“I would have liked to be among you but, as you know, I am here at the Gemelli hospital because I still need some treatment for my bronchitis,” Francis wrote.
The Jesuit has left open the option of resigning if he became unable to carry out his duties.
His predecessor, Benedict XVI, stunned the world in 2013 by becoming the first pope since the Middle Ages to step down, citing his ailing health.
But in a memoir published last year, Francis wrote that he did “not have any cause serious enough to make me think of resigning”.
Stepping down is a “distant possibility” that would be justified only in the event of “a serious physical impediment”, he wrote.
In an autobiography published last month, he said that despite his ailments, “I carry on”.
“The reality is, quite simply, that I am old,” he said.
