The Pope was unable to complete a speech earlier today, amid rising concerns about his health.
The 87-year-old pontiff complained of "a touch of bronchitis" during an address to a group of French religious communications experts at the Vatican.
Pope Francis suffered from an acute lung infection in November which caused him to cancel a planned trip to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
Aides were forced to read his speeches for a couple of weeks.
Pope Francis suffered from an acute lung infection in November ReutersFrancis was meeting participants of the symposium "Université des Communicants en Église" organised by the French Bishops' Conference when he had to interrupt his welcome message.
He said: "I would like to read all the speech, but there is a problem, I have a touch of bronchitis."
The Pope had already delivered other speeches earlier on Friday during meetings with young professionals and a committee promoting relations between the Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental churches.
At a later engagement on Friday, Francis did not read his speech to members of a Catholic scientific body, who instead received it in written form.
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Pope Francis greets a child on the day of the weekly general audience earlier this week
Reuters
The Pope has a long history of health concerns.
He underwent surgery in June 2023 to repair an abdominal hernia and spent nine days in hospital.
In June 2021 he had a colon operation, and since May last year he has frequently been seen using a wheelchair or a walking stick as a result of a knee ailment.
Francis had part of one lung removed in his early 20s while training to be a priest in Argentina.
Earlier this week he caused controversy after calling for a global ban on parenting via surrogacy, calling the practice "deplorable".
He said: "I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother's material needs.
"Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally."
