Due to fever, Pope Francis cancels his schedule on Friday morning

He Pope FranciscoThe 86-year-old canceled his schedule on Friday morning due to a feverish state, a Vatican spokesman said.

“Due to a feverish state, Pope Francis did not receive in audience this morning“, declared the spokesman for the Holy See Matteo Bruni, without specifying what was the planned program of the Argentine pontiff in the morning.

Pope appoints archbishop of Buenos Aires and says he would visit Argentina

Pope Francis appointed a bishop with years of experience in the country’s prisons as archbishop of Buenos Aires on Fridayafter stating the day before that he would finally visit his native country next year.

Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva, bishop of Río Gallegos, 55, will succeed Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli, who turned 75 last year, the Vatican said.

The day before, Francisco reiterated that he was contemplating a visit to Argentina next year. During the 10 years of his pontificate, Francis has stayed away from Argentina, apparently so as not to be drawn into political polarization in his native country. But he has recently indicated that he is willing to return next year, after the inauguration of the president who is elected in October.

“My idea is to go next year. We’ll see if it’s possible,” the pope said at a student forum.

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In that case, it would be up to García Cuerva to organize the trip and receive the pope.

García Cuerva, a canon law lawyer, was appointed bishop of Lomas de Zamora, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, in 2017 and of Río Gallegos, in the far south of the country, two years later. He has been a chaplain to many prisons, where he cares for inmates, and is currently vice president of an international ecclesiastical commission of prison chaplains.

Francis was archbishop of the Argentine capital from 1998 until his election as pope in 2013. As archbishop, he visited prisoners, and he has continued that activity as pope. He has kept in touch with prisoners in Argentina, visited prisons on his travels around the world, and frequently celebrates Holy Thursday rites in penitentiaries.