Pope cuts short speech, citing ‘bit of a cold’
January 09, 2025
» Continue to this story on AP
CWN Editor's Note: Pope Francis delivered only a few lines of an annual address to the Vatican diplomatic corps on January 9, explaining that he was battling “a bit of a cold,” and having a Vatican aide read his prepared text.
The traditional “State of the World” speech is a longstanding Vatican tradition, in which the Pontiff sets forth the foreign-policy priorities of the Holy See. Pope Francis had a prepared text of 5,000 words. (See today’s separate CWN headline.) But after laboring through the opening, troubled by obvious shortness of breath, the Pontiff handed over the text to Msgr. Filippo Ciampanelli, who read it aloud.
The Pope has been suffering from congestion during the past week. In the past Vatican spokesmen have said that episodes of breathing difficulty were caused by bronchial infection, in this case the Pontiff has consistently said that it is only a head cold.
The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
For all current news, visit our News home page.
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
