In this picture taken Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, Pope Francis wipes his nose during the Ash Wednesday Mass opening Lent. PHOTO: AP

A coughing Pope Francis told pilgrims gathered for the traditional Sunday blessing that he is cancelling his participation at a week-long spiritual retreat in the Roman countryside because of a cold.

It is the first time in his seven-year papacy that he has missed the spiritual exercises that he initiated early in his pontificate to mark the start of each Lenten season. Such retreats are typical Jesuits, an order to which he belongs.

The 83-year-old pontiff, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory illness as a young man, has cancelled several official engagements this week as he battled an apparent cold. The Holy See press office has called it a “slight illness” without giving other details.

ALSO READ: Pope Francis cancels audiences for third day with apparent cold

His weekly appearance Sunday to pilgrims from a window high above St. Peter’s Square was the first time he has been seen publicly since Ash Wednesday when he was seen coughing and blowing his nose during an Ash Wednesday Mass.

Francis paused twice while addressing the faithful.

Vanguard earlier reported that, Pope Francis cancelled official engagements for the third day in a row Saturday as he battled an apparent cold.

The 83-year-old pope, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory illness as a young man, has never cancelled so many official audiences or events in his seven-year papacy. Francis is, however, continuing to work from his residence at the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel and is receiving people in private, the Vatican press office said.

On Saturday, those private meetings were with the head of the Vatican’s bishops’ office, Francis’ ambassadors to Lebanon and France and a Ukrainian archbishop.

Cancelled were his two planned official audiences — formal affairs in the Apostolic Palace where Francis would have delivered a speech and greeted a great number of people at the end.

Those were to include an audience with an international bioethics organization and with members of the scandal-marred Legion of Christ religious order.

[AP]

Vanguard News Nigeria.