Pope Francis made a start on delivering his homily on Sunday, but after two and a half minutes had to hand over to his Master of Ceremonies.
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis had to abandon reading his homily Sunday due to “breathlessness” as he continues to deal with a bout of bronchitis.
Pope Francis presided from the throne at Mass on Sunday – in what has become his norm for the past number of years – as the Vatican hosted celebrations of the Jubilee Year 2025 for armed forces, police, and security personnel.
Francis made a start on delivering his homily, but after two and a half minutes had to hand over the rest of the text to his Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Ravelli, who continued to read the remainder of the homily.
"Excuse me, I will now ask the Ceremoniare (Master of Ceremonies) to continue reading due to my difficulty in breathing," Francis explained.
On February 6, the Holy See press office stated that the Pope has “bronchitis” and thus his meetings for the next few days would be held in his house of residence – the Casa Santa Martha – rather than in the Apostolic Palace.
His speeches have since been read by aides, or delivered in writing to participants at his audiences. Indeed, assistants have read a number of the Pope’s longer addresses at a variety of events over the past several weeks due to his having what was described as a cold.
While in his early twenties, Francis underwent surgery to remove a large part of one lung as a result of the illness, and as a results has demonstrated increased susceptibility to colds or ailments affecting his breathing.
The Pope often has increased health issues during the winter, but has showed signs of particularly increased poor health since early December. His mobility has been notably limited in recent years, leading to his use of a walking stick and wheelchair.
At the December 7 consistory to create cardinals, Francis appeared with a very visible bruise on his chin. The mark was explained by the press office as being due to a minor fall that the Pope had on the previous morning, when he hit his chin on his bedside table.
Then in mid-January the Pope had another fall which this time led to his using a sling on his right arm for a few days.
The 88-year-old pontiff had two significant hospitalizations in 2023, the first of which was described as “scheduled” but which Francis later described as being an emergency, and as having arrived at the hospital “unconscious.”
In June 2023 he underwent “incarcerated incisional hernia,” which the Holy See Press Office described as a necessary procedure, but not an emergency.
Two years prior to that, the Pope also had a 10-day stay in hospital, after he had to undergo a six-hour surgery at the Gemelli to have part of his colon removed due to diverticulitis.
With his poor health often on public display, Francis nevertheless has kept up a busy schedule, most notably during his foreign trips. In September he made the longest trip of his pontificate so far as he embarked on an 11-day voyage to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.
