By JAMES REYNOLDS and AFP
Pope Francis has been forced to clear his schedule after suffering with a fever, the Vatican has said.
The pope’s agenda was not made public this morning, as it usually is on a Friday. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said: ‘Due to a feverish state, Pope Francis did not receive an audience this morning.’
Francis spent five days in a Rome hospital at the end of March for bronchitis.
Pope Francis recovered quickly from the illness after taking antibiotics and was able to go on a three-day trip to Hungary at the end of April.
But the Pope, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was forced to miss the ‘Way of the Cross’ procession on Good Friday due to cold weather.
He instead attended an indoor Good Friday service in St Peter’s Basilica.
It was the first time the Pope did not preside at the ‘Via Crucis’ service since he was elected in 2013.
He did manage to take part in Maundy Thursday duties, gathering with dozens of cardinals and bishops, and some 1,880 priests, in St Peter’s Basilica.
The Pope later travelled to the jail of Casal del Marmo on the outskirts of the city, where he washed and kissed the feet of 12 young inmates in a gesture meant to commemorate Jesus’ humility towards his apostles on the night before his death.
He seemed, at the time, to have recovered from bronchitis.
Francis, who became pope ten years ago, is missing part of one lung. It was removed when he was a young man in his native Argentina.
None of the Pope’s scheduled events have been cancelled and he is due to preside at a Mass marking Pentacost on Sunday in St Peter’s Square.
