The Vatican said Friday that Francis has not received people in private audiences because he has a fever. A day earlier, the pope spoke in an exclusive interview with Noticias Telemundo of his health problems at age 86, with some "days more painful" than others, and renewed his plea to faithful Catholics to pray for him because their prayers "work miracles."
The health of Francis, elected more than a decade ago to lead the Catholic Church, has been deteriorating in the past year, with knee problems sometimes leading him to use a wheelchair, and a recent hospitalization for a lung infection. "Now I'm walking again," he told journalist Julio Vaqueiro in the interview on Thursday: "There are days that are more painful, like today; There are days when you don't, but it's part of development."
Francisco, born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1936, also spoke exclusively of migrants, recalling his own history of leaving "the terroir"; abuses in the Catholic Church; the role of the Vatican in the war in Ukraine; and on abortion.
The news about his health condition was announced in the morning after changes were noticed in his schedule. "Due to a fever, Pope Francis did not receive [anyone] in audience," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in response to a reporter's question about why no one was on the schedule of audiences earlier. Bruni did not provide further details on the pontiff's state of health.
The pope answers questions from Julio Vaqueiro. Telemundo News
The last known serious health problem of former Cardinal Jorge Bergolgio was in late March, when he spent five days in a hospital in Rome for acute pneumonia. Francisco is missing part of a lung, which was removed when he was young in Argentina; He recovered from the infection after treatment with antibiotics.
"We caught her in time, they told me, and if we had waited a little longer hours, it would have been more serious. But I left in four days, I left," the pope told Noticias Telemundo in a conversation at the Vatican, before participating in a forum with young people from around the world of the Scholas Occurrentes foundation.
After being discharged, he returned to his duties, including leading the celebration of Easter in St. Peter's Square and a three-day trip to Hungary, after which he announced that the Vatican was starting a mission for peace in Ukraine.
"He looks very good," Julio Vaqueiro said in the interview, to which the pope replied: "I'm already at the age that you have to say 'how good it looks.' It's the compliment to the old."
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Asked if he felt "the strength of all the people who pray" for him, the pope remarked that "the prayer of the faithful works miracles" for pastors.
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"Sometimes people don't realize the power they have with prayer for their pastors. And the prayer of the faithful works miracles, seriously, it does miracles. Take care of the pastor. A pastor, any pastor, whether parish priest, bishop or any pastor, is as if defended, armored, with armor, with the prayer of the faithful," he said.
None of the pope's scheduled events have been canceled so far, and he is expected to preside over the Mass for Sunday's Pentecost celebration in St. Peter's Square.