Pope Francis assured this Friday that he has once again had a “a little bronchitis“and preferred not to read the speech prepared when receiving a group of communicators from France.

“I would like to read the entire speech, but I have a problem, a little bronchitis,” said the pope who, although with a tired voice, had given the speeches planned in the two previous audiences of the day.

At the end of November, Pope Francis suffered from “lung inflammation” which forced him to skip some events and cancel the trip to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai scheduled for early December.

The pontiff, dAt the age of 87, he was then subjected to a CT scan. (computed axial tomography) in a hospital in Rome, which confirmed these health problems and started antibiotic therapy. It took him several days to recover from bronchitis and during that time he was helped by a collaborator, who read his speeches.

The pontiff has suffered several ailments last year due to age and an operation complicated by an abdominal hernia. In April he was hospitalized for three days for bronchitis that had to be treated with antibiotics and which worried him, since the pontiff arrived with fever and in an ambulance.

In June, by surprise, and due to the presence of adhesions Due to his previous operation for colon diverticula in July 2021, he had to undergo surgery again for an abdominal hernia and was hospitalized for nine days.