On Friday morning, he held audiences at the Vatican before his hospitalization, including with the prime minister of Slovakia and with Mark Thompson, CNN's chief executive. During the meeting, the pope was mentally alert but struggling to speak for extended periods due to breathing difficulties,

The 88-year-old pontiff was diagnosed with bronchitis last week but had continued to hold daily audiences in his Vatican hotel suite.

Pope Francis was hospitalized Friday for the fourth time since being elected in 2013, after he was diagnosed with bronchitis last week. Francis had part of one lung removed as a young man and has recurring bouts of bronchitis,

Pope Francis will be admitted to hospital in Rome to undergo treatment and tests for bronchitis, the Vatican has said. The 88-year-old will arrive at the Gemelli hospital after his morning audiences on Friday,

Pope Francis will be hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic at the end of Friday’s daily audiences to undergo some necessary diagnostic tests and to continue his ongoing treatment for bronchitis in the hospital,

Pope Francis will be hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic at the end of Friday’s daily audiences to undergo some necessary diagnostic tests and to continue his ongoing treatment for bronchitis in the hospital,

Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, has held his title for 12 years. What to know about the Jesuit.

Many who know him said that Francis, driven by a sense of mission and a discipline born of his early training, essentially worked himself into the hospital.

Due to bronchitis that he is experiencing these days, and in order to continue his activities, on Friday, February 7, and Saturday, February 8, Pope Francis' audiences will be

Pope Francis, 88, was hospitalized last Friday with bronchitis, the Vatican said, and now has a “polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract.”

The pope was admitted to hospital on February 14 where he is fighting a complex respiratory infection and pneumonia in both lungs.