Pope falls, gets arm contusion and a sling
ROME – After experiencing a fall at his Vatican residence Thursday morning, Pope Francis suffered a contusion on his right arm, which the Vatican said was not fractured, but was immobilized as a precaution.
In a statement, the Vatican said the fall happened inside the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse, where the 88-year-old pope lives, and resulted in a contusion on his right arm, without any fractures, but which was immobilized “as a preventative measure.”
The Vatican did not say when the fall occurred, but the pope was seen in some morning audiences with his arm already in a sling.
Pope Francis’s public audiences Thursday included a meeting with a delegation from Albania led by religious leader Dede Edmond Brahimaj, who is the leader of the Bektashi Muslims, with members of the Argentinian Priestly College in Rome.
Thursday’s fall comes just over a month after Pope Francis experienced another apparent fall in early December, resulting in a large bruise on his chin which a Vatican spokesman said was the result of hitting his chin on a nightstand.
Francis, who has also been recovering from a cold in recent days, for nearly two years has experienced knee troubles that 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.
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