OGUN, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Pope Francis was hospitalized shortly after his weekly audience at the Vatican.
Fears that the head of the Catholic Church may be seriously unwell emerged after he underwent a CT scan from the physicians.
According to the Vatican, the 87-year-old pope has a minor case of influenza, but two medical sources told the Reuters news agency that he had a CT scan which raises the possibility that the issue is more serious.
A CT scan combines a series of X-ray images taken of the body from different angles and can be used to diagnose disease or injury, as well as to prepare for medical or radiation treatment.
The Pope’s visit to the hospital on Tiber Island, a tiny sliver of land in the middle of the Tiber River which is located just a couple of miles from the Vatican, renewed concerns for his overall health.
The bout of flu had already forced the Pope to cancel engagements on Saturday and again on Monday.
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On Wednesday, he skipped a reading, delegating the task to an aide and telling the faithful he was still not feeling well.
“Dear brothers and sisters, I still have a bit of a cold,” he said, announcing that someone else would read his catechesis on envy and vainglory, two of the seven deadly sins.
He did speak at the end of the audience but coughed and sounded hoarse.
The Argentine pontiff has been dogged by health problems all winter.
He had to cancel his attendance at the Cop28 climate conference, in Dubai in December, because he was suffering from inflammation of the lungs and an earlier bout of flu.
In January, he said he had been struck down with bronchitis.
In addition to his advanced age, he underwent colon surgery in 2021, suffers from knee pain, is often seen in a wheelchair and had half of a lung removed when he was a young man.
He has repeatedly said that if he ever became physically or mentally incapacitated, he would consider resigning, following in the footsteps of his predecessor Benedict XVI, who became the first pope in 600 years to resign when he stepped down in 2013.
The Vatican announced that Pope Francis had “diagnostic tests” at the hospital on Tiber Island, but it did not specify what exactly he was being examined for.
He was transported there in his regular vehicle, a white Fiat with a Vatican registration, then he went back to the Vatican again.