Pope Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Tuesday for check-ups, Italian agencies said. The Argentine pope, 86, arrived at 10:40 am (9:40 am French time) in this establishment in which he had already been admitted at the end of March for a respiratory infection. Contacted by AFP, neither the Vatican nor the hospital immediately confirmed this information.
On the plane back from Hungary, the pontiff had confided that he was suffering from "acute and strong pneumonia, in the lower part of the lung", that he had difficulty breathing but that he wanted to continue traveling. The pope spent three days in hospital in Rome before being discharged on April 1 after a course of antibiotics.
Pope Francis said two weeks ago in an interview with Spanish-language television Telemundo that this "pneumonia" had been treated "in time." "If we had waited a few more hours, it would have been much worse," he said.
As for his knee pain, which forces him to move around in a wheelchair or with the help of a cane, he feels "much better". "Some days are more painful than others, but that's part of recovery."
The health of Jorge Bergoglio, elected in 2013, regularly fuels speculation about the possibility of relinquishing his office and his succession. On this subject, he constantly blows hot and cold: he has repeatedly stated that he would consider resigning (like his predecessor Benedict XVI, who died in December) if his health fails, but he has more recently said that this is not topical.
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In his youth, at the age of 21, Jorge Bergoglio suffered from acute pleurisy and surgeons proceeded to partially remove his right lung. He had returned to hospital on May 26 due to a feverish condition, according to Ansa and AGI.