Pope Francis falls ill in virus-stricken Italy

POPE FRANCIS has fallen sick in Rome — a day after greeting the faithful on Ash Wednesday without wearing a mask while expressing solidarity with coronavirus sufferers. 

Italy is the worst-affected European country by Covid-19 with 655 confirmed cases and 17 deaths. Only three cases have been reported in Rome and all three patients recovered.

Pope Francis blows his nose as he leads the Ash Wednesday Mass which opened Lent at Santa Sabina Church in Rome on Feb. 26, 2020. (Photo: Albert Pizzoli / AFP)

Vatican officials refused to comment on whether the pope has been tested for coronavirus, confirming only that he missed a Mass for the start of Lent due to a slight illness.

“This morning the pontiff did not go to St. John Lateran Basilica for the Penitential Mass with Roman clergy,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Feb. 27.

“Due to a light indisposition he preferred to stay near [his Vatican residence] Santa Marta. Other duties are proceeding regularly.”

Bruni declined to respond to the question of whether or not the pontiff had been or will be tested for coronavirus, which has caused widespread disruption across the north of Italy.

Concern over the pope's health circulated on social media after he was seen coughing and blowing his nose during Ash Wednesday celebrations in which he greeted people without a mask.

The pope appeared to have a cold and spoke with a slightly hoarse voice at his general audience on Ash Wednesday as he kissed cheeks and heads and touched the hands and faces of the faithful, saying he had solidarity with those suffering from coronavirus.

“I would like to express my closeness to the coronavirus patients and to the health workers who are treating them, as well as to the civil authorities,” he said.

Last Sunday, he mingled with 40,000 faithful in Bari, hugging and kissing people in the crowds after expressing his support for those infected by coronavirus, the health workers treating them, and the civil authorities responding to the outbreak, which is worsening by the day in Europe.

The pope is missing a part of one lung. It was removed when he was in his early 20s in his native Buenos Aires after he suffered from tuberculosis. 

He also suffers some leg pain due to sciatica, for which he undergoes regular physical therapy and which explains his occasional difficulty climbing steps.But he is in generally good health and has been able to endure about four tiring international trips each year since his election in 2013. (UCAN)