The Holy See announced on Monday that Pope Francis’ audiences for the day had been suspended as a precautionary measure due to his persisting flu symptoms.
The notice sent out by the Vatican said that while the Pope’s “mild flu symptoms persist”, he did not have a fever. It did not provide further details on the Pope’s condition nor comment on whether he would continue with his activities for the week.
On Saturday, Pope Francis cancelled his meeting with the transitional deacons of the Diocese of Rome, who will be ordained to the priesthood in April, due to “a mild flu-like condition”.
The cancellation came after Pope Francis concluded a five-day Lenten retreat at his Vatican residence, for which all of his regular activities were suspended from the afternoon of 18 February until 23 February.
However on Sunday the Pope appeared in good health when he delivered his weekly Angelus address to the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square as scheduled, praying that they “never direct your eyes away from the light of Jesus”.
Reflecting on Mark’s account of the Transfiguration in the Sunday gospel, Francis said the moment reminds all Christians that “God is light” and allows us to “seek his face, that is full of mercy, fidelity, and hope”. “Always keep the luminous face of Christ before our eyes,” he said.
This encounter with the living God is principally through “prayer, listening to the word, the sacraments, especially confession and the Eucharist”, the Pope said, but he added that it is a also in personal relationships that people can become “seekers of the light of Jesus”.
“But it also helps to look people in the eyes,” he continued, “learning to see God’s light in everyone and cultivating the ability to marvel at this beauty that shines in each one, without exception: in those close to us and in those we do not know, in the happy gazes of those who are joyful and in the tears of those who are sorrowful, in the sad and dimmed eyes of those who are tried by life and of those who have lost their enthusiasm, and even in those whom we find it difficult to look in the face, preferring to turn away.”
Last November the Pope was forced to cancel his public appearances due to similarly “mild” flu symptoms. He was later admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital to undergo precautionary testing for pulmonary complications, which came back negative.
In December Francis cancelled his visit to Dubai for the COP28 climate conference at the request of his doctors, due to a bronchial infection.
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