Pope Francis receiving intravenous antibiotics for lung inflammation

Pope Francis is receiving antibiotics intravenously to treat a lung inflammation and will scale back some appointments, but he doesn’t have pneumonia or fever, the Vatican said Monday.

Francis himself on Sunday revealed that he was suffering from the inflammation problem, explaining why he didn’t keep his weekly window appointment to greet people in St. Peter’s Square. Instead, he gave his blessing from the chapel of the hotel on Vatican grounds where he lives.

Vatican press office director Matteo Bruni said in a written statement on Monday that the inflammation was causing some respiratory difficulties for Francis, whose 87th birthday is next month.

When he gave his blessing on Sunday, a bandage, holding in place a cannula for intravenous treatment, was clearly visible on his right hand.

“The condition of the pope is good and stationary, he doesn’t have a fever, and the respiratory situation is in clear improvement,’’ Bruni said. A CT scan, which the pope underwent on Saturday afternoon at a Rome hospital, ruled out pneumonia, Bruni added.

To aid the pope’s recovery, “some important commitments expected for the next days have been postponed so he can dedicate the time and desired energy” to his recovery, the spokesman said.

Other appointments, “of institutional character or easier to maintain given the current health conditions, have been maintained,” Bruni added.

The spokesman didn’t spell out which appointments were being put off. Francis on Monday morning received in a private, half-hour-long audience the president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, at his residence instead of the Apostolic Palace.

In televised remarks on Sunday, Francis indicated he was going ahead with a three-day trip, beginning on 1 December, to the United Arab Emirates, to deliver a speech on climate change at the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate talks.

“Besides war, our world is threatened by another great peril, that of climate change, which puts at risk life on Earth, especially for future generations,’’ the pontiff said in the words read by the priest.

“I thank all who will accompany this voyage with prayer and with the commitment to take to heart the safeguarding of the common house,’’ the pontiff said, using his term for Earth.

Earlier this year, Francis was hospitalised for three days for what he later said was pneumonia and what the Vatican described as a case of bronchitis necessitating treatment with intravenous antibiotics.