Pope Francis waves to the faithful as he delivers the Sunday Angelus prayer from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in Rome on March 1. (Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP)
Pope Francis told pilgrims gathered for his traditional Sunday blessing that he will not attend an annual week-long spiritual retreat, saying a cold has forced him to cancel.
The 83-year-old pontiff was coughing as he made the surprise announcement to thousands of followers in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican yesterday.
It is the first time in his seven-year papacy that he has missed the spiritual exercises that he initiated early in his pontificate to mark the start of each Lenten season.
Concern about the pope’s health grew when he was seen coughing and sneezing while greeting the public in Rome on Ash Wednesday.
He was forced to cancel all public engagements until yesterday by what the Vatican described as “a slight indisposition” while refusing to comment on whether the pope had been tested for the coronavirus.
Italy is the worst-affected European country with 1,694 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 34 deaths, according to the latest figures. Globally, 3,044 people have died from 89,072 confirmed cases, mostly in mainland China.
Pope Francis, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory illness as a young man in Argentina, paused twice to cough on Sunday while addressing the faithful.
At the end, he asked for prayers for the spiritual retreat, adding “unfortunately a cold prevents me from participating this year. I will be following the meditation from here.”
On Feb. 23, he mingled with 40,000 faithful in Bari, hugging and kissing people in the crowds after expressing his support for those infected by coronavirus, the health workers treating them and civil authorities responding to the outbreak, which is worsening by the day in Europe.