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."