VATICAN CITY
The Blaze
Jun. 18, 2014 Billy Hallowell
Rumors over Pope Francis’ health are beginning to swirl after the Vatican released a dramatically curtailed list of summer appearances — a radical departure from the full event schedule the pontiff typically holds.
The amended event announcement, which was posted Monday on the Vatican’s official news portal, noted that all Wednesday general audiences will be suspended until August.
Morning mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae, Francis’ residence, has also been canceled for the summer and is scheduled to begin again in September.
Despite these changes, the Angelus devotional prayer is scheduled to continue every Sunday during the summer, aside from select dates on which Francis, who is 77 and only has one fully functional lung, is scheduled to travel.
According to the Daily Beast’s Barbie Latza Nadeau, the fact that people already had tickets to the July audiences made it seem as though the scheduling changes were spontaneous.
“Several Vatican insiders also have noted that the pope is gaining weight and breathing harder than usual, which has caused some of his close associates to warn him to slow down,” Nadeau wrote.
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