section_path: Health
section_name: Health
paragraph_text: Health
  
  Elected at the age of 76, Francis was reported to be healthy; his doctors had said the lung tissue removed in his youth did not significantly affect his health. The only concern would be decreased respiratory reserve if he had a respiratory infection. The Pope had suffered from chronic lung damage, due in part to the lung excision he had as a young man. In the last few years of his life, he was prone to bouts of influenza and bronchitis in the winter. Knee problems and sciatica prompted him to frequently use a wheelchair, walker, or cane. In 2021, the Pope's health problems prompted rumors that he might resign, which Francis dismissed. In June 2022, after undergoing treatment to his knee, Francis canceled planned trips to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.
  
  In March 2023, Francis was hospitalized in Rome with a respiratory infection. He returned to celebrate the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday, in April. In June, Francis underwent abdominal surgery after suffering from a hernia. He acknowledged that his recurring mobility problems had precipitated the beginning of what Reuters termed "a new, slower phase of his papacy", although he was praised by disabled Catholics for making his "disability part of his visible identity".
  
  In February 2025, Francis entered Gemelli Hospital in Rome due to bronchitis. He remained for more than a month after developing a polymicrobial infection of his respiratory tract and bilateral pneumonia. Vatican News described his condition as critical and reported that he was given blood transfusions and high-flow oxygen. Eventually, Francis was put on mechanical ventilation for a number of days, and suffered two episodes of " acute respiratory insufficiency ". After the infection improved, he was discharged from the hospital on 23 March, immediately after blessing a crowd from his balcony. He was expected to spend at least two months recuperating at his home in Domus Sanctae Marthae in Vatican City, maintaining a reduced work schedule. He appeared in public for the first time since his hospitalization on 6 April.