Pope Francis says he could have died when he was rushed to hospital last month.
He was unconscious when he was rushed to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with bronchitis on 29 March.
Francis suffers from a number of ailments. Part of one of his lungs was removed because of an illness when he was a young man in Argentina.
Italian Michele Ferri. who is reportedly often in touch with Francis, says the Pope told him: “A few more hours and I’m not sure I would have been around to tell it.”
Fortunately this didn’t happen and he was discharged after three days in hospital.
He presided over all Easter celebrations except for a Good Friday night-time outdoor service in Rome. The Vatican says he skipped it due to unseasonably cold weather.
Ferri says Francis sounded better in their most recent conversation than he had the last time he spoke in January.
“He seemed very tired (back then),” he says.
The Pope’s recent admission to hospital is concerning, given he could have died. “I told him: you really gave us a fright!” Ferri says.
He is widely quoted in Italian media, since Francis first called to comfort him after the death of his brother who was killed in a robbery a decade ago.
Francis is known to keep a small list of people he phones regularly, often after comforting them following tragedies. The Vatican never confirms their names but has not denied that he speaks to Ferri. It did not respond to a request for comment on Ferri’s latest remarks.
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