Pope in arm sling after a fall
Pope Francis injured his right arm after falling at his Vatican residence this morning, and is wearing a sling as a precautionary measure. In a statement, the Vatican said the fall happened inside the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse, where the 88-year-old pope lives. The fall resulted in a contusion (significant bruising) on the Pope’s right The post Pope in arm sling after a fall first appeared on Catholic Herald. The post Pope in arm sling after a fall appeared first on Catholic Herald.
Pope Francis injured his right arm after falling at his Vatican residence this morning, and is wearing a sling as a precautionary measure.
In a statement, the Vatican said the fall happened inside the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse, where the 88-year-old pope lives. The fall resulted in a contusion (significant bruising) on the Pope’s right arm, without any fractures, though the arm has been immobilised “as a preventative measure”.
The Vatican did not confirm exactly when the fall occurred, but the Pope was seen in various audiences on Thursday morning with his arm in a sling.
Pope Francis’s public audiences on 16 January included a meeting with a delegation from Albania led by religious leader Dede Edmond Brahimaj, who is the leader of the Bektashi Muslims, and a meeting with members of the Argentinian Priestly College in Rome.
The fall comes just over a month after Pope Francis experienced another apparent fall in early December 2024, resulting in a large bruise on his chin, and which a Vatican spokesman said was the result of hitting his chin on a nightstand.
The Pope, who has been recovering from a cold in recent days, has experienced knee problems for nearly two years, and which have at times confined him to the use of a wheelchair or a cane.
He also suffers from sciatica and is susceptible to respiratory illnesses, as he had a portion of one lung removed when he was a young Jesuit due to a serious bout of pneumonia.
The most recent fall follows shortly after the recent publication on 14 January of Hope, The Autobiography, which has been billed as the first ever autobiography to be published by a serving pope.
The book was originally intended to be published after the Pope’s death, but given the Holy Father’s ongoing longevity and overall robustness for his age of 88 years old, it has been published now and “serves as an update of his views”, reports Melanie McDonagh.
Those views are reaching a wider public, even if they don’t buy the book, as various excerpts from the Pope’s autobiography are published by the media.
The Times has reported how in his autobiography the Pope takes conservative bishops and cardinals to task for the ornate way in which they often dress.
The Pope suggests in his writing that their adherence to fine clothing and ostentatious styles reveals a “rigidity” of mind that in some cases may even reach a level of “mental instability” and “emotional deviation”.
RELATED: Pope critiques ‘rigid’ dress sense and mentality of conservative prelates
Photo: Pope Francis wearing a sling while meeting Nosipho Nausca-Jean Jezile, Chair of the Committee on World Food Security. (Credit: Vatican Media, via Crux.)
The post Pope in arm sling after a fall first appeared on Catholic Herald.
The post Pope in arm sling after a fall appeared first on Catholic Herald.