The Vatican confirmed the Sept 2-13 visit, saying the 87-year-old pope would visit Jakarta, Indonesia; Port Moresby and Vanimo, Papua New Guinea; Dili, East Timor; and Singapore. Further details will be announced later.

Francis' health has become a source of increasing concern and speculation, even though the pontiff can carry on with a rigorous schedule of meetings at the Vatican and even excursions to local parishes.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, had to cancel a planned visit to Dubai late last year after he came down with a bad case of bronchitis.

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On Saturday, the 87-year-old pope delegated the reading of a speech at a ceremony to an aide, and on Wednesday, he made a brief trip to a Rome hospital after he missed reading at his weekly audience, saying he had "a bit of cold".

"Each day I carry in my heart with pain the suffering of the populations in Palestine and Israel due to the ongoing hostilities, thousands of dead, injured, displaced," Francis said, speaking by himself with a clear voice at the Angelus prayer in Rome.

Addressing believers in St Peter's Square, Francis stressed the consequences of the conflict on children and asked for the release of all the hostages taken in Hamas' Oct 7 raid.

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This was despite receiving ongoing antibiotic treatment for a flu-causing lung inflammation.

In a statement Wednesday night, the Vatican said that the pope's condition is "stable" and that "he does not have a fever, but the pulmonary inflammation associated with difficulty breathing persists. He continues antibiotic therapy."

Pope Francis was scheduled to visit Dubai Dec 1-3 for the COP28 United Nations Climate Summit but cancelled the trip Tuesday upon medical advice from his doctors.

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A statement to participants in a seminar on "Ethics in Health Management" Francis indicated that his health has improved, he not longer has a fever.

He is grateful that he does not have pneumonia.

However he is suffering from a very acute infectious bronchitis and his doctors have asked the Pope not to undertake his scheduled visit to Dubai.

Francis commented that it is very hot there, and you go from heat to air conditioning. And this, with this bronchial condition [is not convenient].

Matteo Bruni said that, upon the doctors' advice, Pope Francis "with great regret" has cancelled his visit to Dubai.

Following Francis' statement, Cardinal Parolin confirmed that the Holy See is studying the "modalities" by which the Pope will participate in the discussions in Dubai.

"We are working on them. I have participated in all the COPs, starting in Paris and the following ones, so I think I will go this time too, but obviously I will shorten my visit, he said.

The Secretary of State explained that the Vatican delegation will stay in Dubai through the two weeks of discussions.

"I would only participate in the first part," he said.

Sources

Vatican Press Office

Vatican News

Vatican News

The Vatican said there were no complications during the three-hour surgery, which required Francis to be under general anaesthesia. The pontiff was expected to remain at Rome's Gemelli hospital for several days, and all papal audiences were cancelled through June 18.

Dr Sergio Alfieri, director of abdominal and endocrine sciences at Gemelli, who also performed Francis' 2021 colon surgery, said the operation was successful. A short time later, the pope was awake, alert and even joking.

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The pontiff held a number of private meetings, including with visitors from Georgetown University who were in town for a conference with a Jesuit-run journal.

According to Vatican News, a number of poets, writers and film directors from around the world attended the conference, including director Martin Scorsese and his family.

Francis later was captured on video arriving at the studios of the state broadcaster RAI to tape an interview, smiling animatedly at well-wishers outside.

The Vatican's confirmation of the 86-year-old pope's fever sparked concerns about Francis' health. The last time he spiked a serious fever, in March, the 86-year-old pontiff was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with acute bronchitis.

He received intravenous antibiotics and was released three days later.

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The 86-year-old pope was hospitalised on Wednesday and received antibiotics intravenously.

Asked how he felt Saturday, Francis told reporters, "Still alive."

In a video released by the Vatican, Francis was seen baptising a hospitalised baby who is a few weeks old.

After the mother tells Francis the boy's name, Miguel Angel, the pope uses a metal hospital tray usually employed to hold syringes to pour water over the sleeping baby's head, then tries to comfort the infant, who wakes up, wailing and seeming to try to swat away the pope's hand.

Francis then asked the mother to dry her son's wet forehead.

He then told her: "When you go to your parish, say that the pope baptised him."

Outside the hospital, the pope hugged a couple whose daughter died at Gemelli Polyclinic the previous night and autographed a boy's cast.

Sources

• Associated Press
• AP News
• Vatican News

Robert Mickens is the editor of the Roman Catholic newspaper La Croix International. He has lived, studied and worked in Rome for 30 years.

Mickens told inews he expects Pope Francis to pre-announce his resignation in October 2023, at the final synod gathering of bishops, with his term to end in 2025.

Mr Mickens said: "There are no rumours, but in my gut, I expect he will give his two years of notice at this event. He's preparing people for the possibility that he will resign, so it's not so shocking when it comes about."

Some religious commentators also believe that Pope Francis' decision to retire could set a "new norm", making him the third Pope to do so in history.

Pope Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, was the first pope to resign in more than 600 years when he stepped down in 2013, citing poor health.

Deacon and political commentator Calvin Robinson said: "It used to be that the Chair of St Peter meant service for life. The bishop of Rome, once elected, would occupy the role of obligation until such time as the Lord ended his tenure.

"It is a very contemporary idea to see this vocation as a job like any other, that one resigns from by choice. However, the precedent has been set. Benedict XVI was only the second Pope to retire, and if Francis wee to do the same, it might set a new norm."

On the subject of the Pope's health, sources told Mr Mickens that the 85-year-old Argentinian looked "really bad" on the flight home to Rome following his six-day tour of Canada.

Pope Francis remarked on his return from this trip, "the door is open" to stepping down if his health issues prevent him from completing his duties.

Francis said he currently intends to continue to serve, but when he does step down - if at all - the decision will be guided by God.

The pontiff also commented about a trip to Kazakstan planned for September, saying, "That wouldn't be too rigorous a journey."

Mr Mickens said he believes the Pope's wheelchair will become a permanent fixture, making working life more difficult.

"It's obvious he's got to cut things back, and the wheelchair is going to be a permanent fixture. With his age and weight, it will be difficult for him to gain mobility.

"I don't think there's any kind of surgery that can address the situation.

"We don't even know the impact of the surgery on his colon last summer, and he could have something else wrong that we don't know about."

Source

• iNews

"I don't think I can continue doing trips with the same rhythm as before," he said in answers to reporters' questions aboard the plane returning to Rome from a week-long trip in Canada.

For the past few months Francis, 85, has been using a wheelchair, a cane or a walker because of knee pain caused by a fracture and inflamed ligaments.

He walked with a cane to the rear cabin where reporters travel, but sat in a wheelchair for the traditional 45-minute post-trip news conference, the first time he has done so on his 37 international trips since he was elected pope in 2013.

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Matteo Bruni, director of the press office, did not mention whether the pope's planned trip to Canada in late July was still set.

"At the request of his doctors, and in order not to jeopardise the results of the therapy that he is undergoing for his knee, the Holy Father has been forced to postpone, with regret, his apostolic journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo and to South Sudan," Bruni said on June 10.

The trip would be moved "to a later date to be determined."

Although Pope Francis has cancelled several events since mid-January and has begun using a wheelchair or a cane, the Vatican had continued to insist that he would make the two trips in July.

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Francis was riding in the popemobile in St Peter's Square when he stopped near a group from the Legion of Christ. The seminarians asked the pope how his knee was doing.

"It's being naughty," the Argentine pope replied in Spanish.

The 85-year-old pope has been suffering from strained ligaments in his right knee for several months. As a result, he has been using a wheelchair and a cane to get around. Doctors advised doing so would help the knee heal.

The group told Francis that they admired his ability to smile despite the pain. The men then said he was an example for future priests like themselves.

Seeing that they were Mexican because of the flag they were carrying, the pope said: "Do you know what I need for my leg? A bit of tequila."

After much laughter, one of them shouted back: "If one day we go to Santa Marta, we'll bring you a bottle," referring to the guest house where Francis lives in the Vatican.

Francis's mobility limits have spurred media speculation about his health and a future conclave. But a close collaborator recently said the pope is "better than ever" and is undergoing two hours of physiotherapy a day.

"He's in very good health and the same lucid reflection as always," La Plata, Argentina Bishop Victor Manuel Fernandez tweeted May 14 after seeing the pope.

"(There's) a problem in one of his knees. But every day he has more than two hours of rehabilitation, which is producing results. For everything else, he's better than ever."

Francis recently pulled out of a planned two-day trip to Lebanon next month, citing the knee problem. Still, the Vatican has confirmed he will travel to Congo and South Sudan and Canada in July.

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

Reuters

"There is a problem: this leg is not good, it does not work, and the doctor has told me not to walk. I like to go... but this time I have to obey the doctor," he said in a meeting with a Catholic pilgrimage group from Slovakia on April 30.

At the end of his speech in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, the pope said he would not be able to walk to greet the Slovakian pilgrims.

"For this, I will ask you for the sacrifice of going up the stairs, and I will greet you from here, sitting," he stated. "It is a humiliation, but I offer it for your country."

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The pope's doctor had "prescribed a period of greater rest for his leg" because of "acute gonalgia", or knee pain, the Vatican explained in a note.

The note did not specify whether the problem related to Francis's previous difficulties with sciatica, a chronic nerve condition that causes back, hip and leg pain, makes him walk with a limp, and has forced him to cancel or modify high-profile appearances in the past.

That condition, which Francis has called his "troublesome guest," also makes it difficult for him to stand for long periods.

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The Director of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, Alistair Dutton, is said to be "gutted" over Francis no-show.

The announcement was "an enormous disappointment for everyone who had hoped Pope Francis would inspire world leaders to really grasp the nettle and tackle the climate emergency."

"Pope Francis has always been clear that we all have an urgent collective responsibility to tackle the climate crisis. While he won't be in Glasgow to look them in the eye, his teaching stands as a clear moral call not to shirk their responsibilities for all peoples and the planet that is our common home," Dutton said.

Instead, the Holy See delegation would be led instead by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, its secretary of state.

In a statement on Friday, the Bishops' Conference of Scotland said, "The bishops welcome the announcement that Cardinal Parolin will lead the Holy See delegation as an indication of the importance the Church attaches to COP26 and will continue to keep Pope Francis in their prayers."

The Pope previously said he hoped to attend the conference but would depend on "how I feel at the time".

Francis underwent colon surgery in July and spent 10 days recovering in a Rome hospital.

A report from the Glasgow Evening Times expresses concerns about world leaders staying in Glasgow during COP26.

Specific details remain unclear, but concerns surround the M8, one of the busiest motorways in the UK.

Police have been informed of planned protests near junction 19 at Anderston and the Scotsman has been told of roadworks causing up to 30-minute delays.

"There are security concerns about having to move VIPs through slow-moving traffic," a source told the Scotsman.

The COP26 meeting also coincides with the launch of the Synod on Synodality.

Pope Francis has said it is time to "change course" on the environment in the run-up to the climate summit.

He has also signed the Vatican up to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

Organisers said that while disappointed the Pope will not travel to COP26, they confirmed the Queen will attend the summit. In addition, US President Joe Biden has said he is "anxious" to be there.

The climate summit will be held at the Scottish Exhibition Campus in Glasgow from 31 Oct to 12 Nov.

Around 120 world leaders will meet to lay out plans to cut emissions causing climate change.

Sources

• BBC
• Crux
• Vatican News
• Glasgow Times

When a priest asked Francis how he was feeling, the pontiff showed his dark sense of humour, replying, "Still alive."

"Even though some wanted me dead. I know there were even meetings among priests who thought the pope was in worse shape than what was being said. They were preparing the conclave," he continued.

"Patience! Thank God I'm well," he added.

The comment was a sign of the acute interest in the pope's health.

It also reflected on speculation about what would happen if he succumbed to severe illness.

After his 10-day hospital stay, Italian media speculated that Francis might resign and noted the need for norms to regulate a second retired pope.

Francis has previously said resigning "didn't even cross my mind."

Conservative criticism of Francis turned to outrage after Francis in July cracked down on the celebration of the old Latin Mass.

Francis noted that there was a "big Catholic television station that continually speaks poorly about the pope."

He didn't name it but it could have been a reference to the EWTN media conglomerate, which has been critical of the papacy.

"I personally might merit attacks and insults because I'm a sinner, but the church doesn't deserve this; it's the work of the devil," he said.

Making a second, but related point, Francis told Slovakian Jesuits that the Catholic Church suffers from a temptation to return to attitudes and practices of the past. An attitude that blocks pastoral outreach to many who are marginalized.

"We are suffering this today in the church: the ideology of going backwards.

"It is an ideology that colonizes minds. It is a form of ideological colonization.

"Today, he said, many in the church are afraid of accompanying people "with sexual diversity.

"That is why today we look back to the past: to seek security.

"It frightens us to celebrate before the people of God who look us in the face and tell the truth. It frightens us to go forward in pastoral experiences," the pope said.

"This is the evil of this moment. Namely, to seek the path in rigidity and clericalism, which are two perversions," he said.

Francis made the comments during a private meeting with the Slovakian Jesuits. The comments were made public by the Jesuit journal La Civilita Cattolica.

Sources

• AP News
• Catholic News

In a 90-minute interview on Spanish radio, his first since undergoing colon surgery, the pope spoke on various topics, but, it was the resignation rumours that garnered much attention.

"I don't know where they got it from last week that I was going to resign. It didn't even cross my mind," Francis told Carlos Herrera on Radio COPE.

Pope Francis said that whenever a pontiff is sick, "there's a breeze, or a hurricane" regarding a new papal election.

During the interview, Francis revealed that a nurse, "a very experienced man" who has worked at the Vatican's health service for 30 years, "saved my life."

Francis underwent surgery 0n July 4 "for severe diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis". Part of his colon was removed and he was hospitalised for 10 days.

The pope said the nurse told him that he needed surgery even when others advocated that it was "better [to treat it] with antibiotics". Nevertheless, he took the nurse's advice.

Italian media identified the nurse as Massimiliano Strappetti, 52, who trained and worked at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome before moving to the Vatican.

In the interview, Francis said, "the diverticula" can "become deformed, necrotic, but thank God it was taken in time."

"It is the second time in my life that a nurse has saved my life", the pontiff remarked.

The first time took place in Argentina in 1957 when the pope was a young seminarian hospitalised with pneumonia. An Italian nun, defying the doctor's orders, decided to change the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio's medication.

In recent public appearances, the pope seemed fully recovered. He also has plans to travel to Budapest, Bratislava and Glasgow before the end of the year.

However, in a recent audience with Catholic legislators, he began his speech by apologising that he would remain seated while reading his speech. Pope Francis explained that he is still recovering from his surgery.

Sources

Crux

America Magazine

CBCP News