Pope Francis suffers ‘a touch of bronchitis’, fails to complete his speech

Notably, Francis is 87 years old and a part of one of his lungs was removed when he was a young man in his native country Argentina.

Pope Francis' health issues continue to affect his religious duties. On Friday, the religious leader complained of "a touch of bronchitis" and couldn't complete his address to a group of French religious communications experts at the Vatican, reported news agency Reuters.

Pope Francis meets participants to the symposium "Universite des Communicants en Eglise" at the Vatican (via REUTERS)

Francis interrupted his welcome message while meeting the participants of the symposium "Université des Communicants en Église" organised by the French Bishops' Conference.

"I would like to read all the speech, but there is a problem, I have a touch of bronchitis," said the pope.

However, before his voice issue, he had delivered speeches while meeting other people. He addressed meetings with young professionals and a committee promoting relations between the Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental churches.

Pope's health issues in recent times

In November last year, the pope suffered a lung infection due to which he had to cancel a planned trip to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. In the leading weeks in the Vatican, his speeches were read by his aides.

Francis recovered after receiving treatment including antibiotic therapy. Due to inflammation of his lungs, he had suffered breathing difficulties.

In June, the pope spent nine days in hospital after having surgery on an abdominal hernia. Notably, Francis is 87 years old and a part of one of his lungs was removed when he was a young man in his native country Argentina.