Pope Francis cancels plans to attend COP28 due to flu

The pontiff, who turns 87 next month, has experienced declining health in recent years.

Francis has made the environment a signature issue of his reign. Picture: AFP

Pope Francis has cancelled plans to attend the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai this weekend on account of persistent “influenza and inflammation of the respiratory tract,” the Vatican said.

The announcement adds to concerns about the health of the pope, who will be 87 next month, and who has had a number of ailments in recent years.

The pope cancelled all of his meetings on Saturday on account of what the Vatican described as a mild flu. The same day, he underwent a CAT scan, which the Vatican said ruled out pneumonia. Francis felt well enough to meet with the president of Paraguay on Monday and with the Spanish Catholic bishops’ conference on Tuesday.

The pope’s health has declined noticeably in recent years. In March of this year, he spent three nights in the hospital for what the Vatican said was infectious bronchitis but which the pope later described as severe pneumonia. The pope had part of a lung removed as a young man as a result of a respiratory infection.

In June, Francis spent more than a week in the hospital for a hernia operation. Two years earlier he had part of his colon removed as treatment for diverticulitis, and spent 10 days in the hospital. He has frequently used a wheelchair or cane since May 2022 on account of a knee ailment and nerve pain in his leg.

The Vatican said on Tuesday that the pope’s condition had improved but that, “with great regret,” he had accepted his doctors’ advice not to travel to Dubai.

Francis, who has made protection of the environment a signature issue of his reign, would have been the first pope to attend a climate change conference. The Vatican said it was looking for ways that the pope, who was scheduled to speak at COP28, could be “part of the discussions taking place in the coming days”.

The Wall Street Journal