Pope taken to hospital, quickly returns to Vatican

June 06, 2023

Pope Francis was taken to Gemelli Hospital on Tuesday morning, June 6.

Papal spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the Pope underwent “several clinical examinations and returned to the Vatican before noon.” He stayed in the hospital only about 40 minutes.

The visit to the hospital caused a flurry of media interest, because the Vatican had not given any indication that such a trip was on the Pontiff’s schedule.

The Pope was hospitalized in March for what the Vatican described as a bronchial infection. (That explanation was met with some skepticism, because he recovered very quickly and visited the children’s ward—an unlikely scenario for someone with an infectious disease.) Late last month he cancelled meetings for a day, reportedly because of a fever, but resumed his normal schedule the following day.

At the age of 86, Pope Francis is not known to suffer from any serious medical problems, although acute knee pain has sometimes limited his mobility. However he has shown a notable gain in weight, which some observers suspect is attributable to medications.

The Pope has only one major public liturgical celebration scheduled this month: the Mass and blessing of the pallia for newly installed archbishops on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. On the other hand he has continued to schedule foreign trips—most recently confirming plans for a visit to Mongolia in late August. He will travel to Lisbon earlier that month for World Youth Day.

 

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Further information:

• Vatican: Pope Francis has checkup at Rome hospital (CNA)
• ABC News VIDEO LIVE SHOWS CLIMATE Search Headlines, News and Video... LOG IN Stream on hulu Pope briefly at hospital for tests two months after bronchitis, returns to Vatican (AP)